The  Giraffe  in  History  and  Art 


BY 
BERTHOLD  LAUFER 

Curator  of  Anthropology 


9  Plates  in  Photogravure,  23  Text-figures,  and  1  Vignette 


Anthropology 
Leaflet  27 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY 

CHICAGO 

1928 


The  Anthropological  Leaflets  of  Field  Museum  are  designed  to 
give  brief,  non-technical  accounts  of  some  of  the  more  interesting 
beliefs,  habits  and  customs  of  the  races  whose  life  is  illustrated 
in  the  Museum's  exhibits. 

LIST  OF  ANTHROPOLOGICAL  LEAFLETS  ISSUED  TO  DATE 

1.  The  Chinese  Gateway  (Laufer)    .     .     .     ...     .     .     $.10 

2.  The  Philippine  Forge  Group  (Cole) 10 

3.  The  Japanese  Collections  (Gunsaulus) 25 

4.  New  Guinea  Masks  (Lewis) 25 

5.  The  Thunder  Ceremony  of  the  Pawnee  (Linton)     .        .25 

6.  The  Sacrifice  to  the  Morning  Star  by  the 

Skidi  Pawnee  (Linton) 10 

7.  Purification  of  the  Sacred  Bundles,  a  Ceremony 

of  the  Pawnee  (Linton) 10 

8.  Annual  Ceremony  of  the  Pawnee  Medicine  Men 

(Linton) 10 

9.  The  Use  of  Sago  in  New  Guinea  (Lewis) 10 

10.  Use  of  Human  Skulls  and  Bones  in  Tibet  (Laufer)        .10 

11.  The  Japanese  New  Year's  Festival,  Games  and 

Pastimes  (Gunsaulus) 25 

12.  Japanese  Costume  (Gunsaulus) 25 

13.  Gods  and  Heroes  of  Japan  (Gunsaulus) 25 

14.  Japanese  Temples  and  Houses  (Gunsaulus)      .     .     .        .25 

15.  Use  of  Tobacco  among  North  American  Indians 

(Linton) 25 

16.  Use  of  Tobacco  in  Mexico  and  South  America 

(Mason) 25 

17.  Use  of  Tobacco  in  New  Guinea  (Lewis) 10 

18.  Tobacco  and  Its  Use  in  Asia  (Laufer) 25 

19.  Introduction  of  Tobacco  into  Europe  (Laufer)     .     .        .25 

20.  The  Japanese  Sword  and  Its  Decoration    .     .     . 

(Gunsaulus) 25 

21.  Ivory  in  China  (Laufer)    .     .     , 75 

22.  Insect- Musicians   and   Cricket   Champions   of 

China  (Laufer) 50 

23.  Ostrich  Egg-shell  Cups  of  Mesopotamia  and  the 

Ostrich    in    Ancient    and    Modern    Times 
(Laufer) 50 

24.  The  Indian  Tribes  of  the  Chicago  Region  with 

Special  Reference  to  the  Illinois  and  the 
Potawatomi  (Strong) 25 

25.  Civilization  of  the  Mayas  (Thompson) 75 

26.  Early  History  of  Man  (Field) 25 

27.  The  Giraffe  in  History  and  Art  (Laufer) 75 


D.  C.  DAV1ES,  Director 

FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY 
CHICAGO.  U.  S.  A. 


LEAFLET  27. 


NORTHERN  GIRAFFE. 
After  Hutchinson,  Animals  of  All  Countries. 


Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 
Department  of  Anthropology 

Chicago,  1928 
Leaflet  Number  27 


The  Giraffe  in  History  and  Art 


CONTENTS 

Page 

Giraffes 3 

The  Giraffe  in  Ancient  Egypt 15 

Representations  of  the  Giraffe  in  Africa  outside  of 

Egypt 26 

The  Giraffe  among  Arabs  and  Persians 31 

The  Giraffe  in  Chinese  Records  and  Art 41 

The  Giraffe  in  India 55 

The  Giraffe  among  the  Ancients 58 

The  Giraffe  at  Constantinople 66 

The  Giraffe  during  the  Middle  Ages .  70 

The  Giraffe  in  the  Age  of  the  Renaissance 79 

The  Giraffe  in  the  Nineteenth  Century  and  After ....  88 

Notes 95 

Bibliography 98 


Copyright,  1928. 

by 

Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

In  issuing  this  booklet  I  wish  to  express  my  thanks 
and  gratitude  to  many  friends  who  have  aided  me  with 
photographs  and  information,  above  all,  to  the  firm  Carl 
Hagenbeck  of  Stellingen  for  a  number  of  photographs  of 
live  giraffes  and  many  useful  data,  to  Professor  James  H. 
Breasted  for  photographs  of  the  Nubian  rock-carvings 
taken  by  him  and  published  here  for  the  first  time,  to 
the  Pierpont  Morgan  Library  of  New  York  for  the  photo- 
graph of  the  Persian  painting,  to  Mr.  A.  W.  Bahr  for  the 
loan  of  the  Chinese  painting  reproduced  in  Plate  IV,  and 
to  the  Art  Institute  of  Chicago  for  the  photograph  of  the 
cotton  print  in  Plate  VI.  To  Professor  Lucy  H.  Driscoll 
of  the  University  of  Chicago  I  am  indebted  for  references 
to  Italian  paintings  and  important  literary  sources;  and 
to  Professor  M.  Sprengling,  for  kind  assistance  in  the 
translation  of  Arabic  and  Persian  sources. 

The  twenty-five  drawings  illustrating  this  essay  were 
prepared  with  great  care  and  skill  by  the  Museum  artist, 
Mr.  Carl  F.  Gronemann,  who  likewise  made  the  wooden 
block  for  the  colored  giraffe-head  on  the  cover. 


GIRAFFES 


Giraffes  constitute  a  distinct  family 
of  ruminants  (Giraffidae),  natives  of 
Africa  (Plates  I,  VII-IX).  Owing  to 
the  extraordinary  development  of  the 
neck  and  legs,  the  giraffe  is  the  tallest 
of  all  mammals,  the  height  of  bulls  being 
from  fifteen  to  sixteen,  according  to 
some  observers,  even  from  eighteen  to 
nineteen*  feet,  and  that  of  cows  from 
sixteen  to  seventeen  feet.  Despite  its 
great  elongation,  the  neck  contains  only 
the  typical  number  of  seven  vertebrae 
as  in  nearly  all  mammals,  each  vertebra  itself  being  elon- 
gated, as  every  visitor  to  the  Museum  may  convince  him- 
self by  viewing  the  mounted  skeleton  of  a  giraffe  in  Hall  17. 
During  the  present  geological  epoch  the  family  is 
strictly  confined  to  Africa,  but  in  former  periods  of  the 
earth  it  had  a  much  wider  extension,  and  was  distributed 
over  many  parts  of  Europe  and  Asia,  especially  Greece, 
Persia,  India,  and  China,  where  fossil  remains  have  been 
discovered  from  the  Miocene  onward  down  to  the  Pleisto- 
cene age.  Its  maximum  development  in  numbers  was 
reached  in  the  Pliocene  of  Asia.  The  living  species  are 
distributed  all  over  Africa  south  of  the  Sahara. 

Two  species  are  generally  recognized  by  zoologists, 
each  with  a  number  of  subspecies  or  geographic  races  dis- 
tinguished by  variations  in  the  arrangement  of  the  spots, 
especially  on  the  legs  and  abdomen.  The  more  widely 
distributed  species  is  Giraffa  camelopardalis  which  ranges 
throughout  most  of  central  and  southern  Africa.  The 
Reticulated  giraffe  (Giraffa  reticulata)  is  chestnut-colored 
and  covered  with  a  network  of  white  lines  (Fig.  1).  Its 
distribution  is  restricted  to  northeast  Africa  in  Somaliland, 
Abyssinia,  and  northern  Kenya.   This  species  will  engage 


Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 


our  special  attention  with  reference  to  Persian  and  Chinese 
pictorial  representations  of  it. 

The  existence  of  the  giraffe  in  the  southern  part  of 
Africa  (Giraffa  capensis)  was  first  made  known  by  Hop  and 


J^essiw 


Fig.  1. 

Reticulated  Giraffe. 

From  a  photograph  of  Carl  Hagenbeck. 


Brink's  expedition  to  Great  Namaqualand  in  1761,  who 
found  giraffes  soon  after  crossing  the  Great  River  and  shot 
several.  Tulbagh,  the  Dutch  governor  of  the  Cape  Colony, 
sent  the  skin  of  one  of  these  giraffes  to  the  museum  of  the 


Giraffes  5 

University  of  Leiden;  it  was  the  first  taken  to  Europe 
from  South  Africa.  A  rude  sketch  of  the  animal  made  by 
Hop  and  Brink  was  inserted  by  Buffon  in  the  thirteenth 
volume  of  his  "Histoire  naturelle."  In  South  Africa  the 
name  "giraffe"  is  practically  unknown,  and  the  Dutch 
term  "kameel"  is  always  used. 

The  body  of  the  giraffe  is  short,  and  its  shape  is  pecu- 
liar in  that  the  back  slopes  gradually  downward  to  the 
rump.  The  greater  height  of  the  fore  parts  is  not  owing  to 
the  greater  length  of  the  fore  legs  which  are  not  much 
longer  than  the  hind  legs  (the  real  difference  between  the 
two  amounts  to  hardly  seven  inches),  but  to  processes  of 
the  vertebrae  which  form  a  basis  for  the  muscular  support 
of  the  neck  and  head  and  make  a  hump  on  the  shoul- 
ders. 

The  neck  of  all  giraffes  bears  a  short  mane  extending 
from  the  occiput  to  the  withers.  The  hair  is  short  and 
smooth,  reddish  white,  and  marked  by  numerous  dark 
rusty  spots,  which  are  rhomboid,  oval,  and  even  circular 
in  shape.  The  hide  is  about  an  inch  thick  and  very  tough. 
It  is  used  by  the  natives  of  South  Africa  for  making 
sandals  and  by  the  Boers  to  supply  whips  for  the  bullock- 
carts,  known  as  sjambok.  With  the  practical  disappear- 
ance of  the  rhinoceros  and  the  approaching  extermination 
of  the  hippopotamus  in  South  Africa,  there  is  a  constant 
commercial  demand  for  giraffe-hides,  which  are  worth  from 
four  to  five  pounds  sterling  apiece.  As  a  consequence, 
giraffes  are  killed  in  large  numbers  by  Boer  and  native 
hunters,  and  may  soon  be  threatened  with  extinction. 

One  of  the  most  beautiful  features  of  the  giraffe  are 
the  eyes,  which  are  dark  brown,  large  and  lustrous,  full, 
soft,  and  melting,  and  shaded  by  long  lashes.  The  ears 
are  long  and  mobile.  The  nostrils  can  be  tightly  closed  at 
will  by  a  curious  arrangement  of  sphincter  muscles.  This 
is  supposed  to  be  a  provision  of  nature  against  blowing 
sand  and  thorns  of  acacias  on  the  leaves  of  which  the 
animal  browses.     The  lips  are  furnished  with  a  dense 


6  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

coating  of  thick  velvety  hair,  probably  as  a  further  pro- 
tection against  thorns. 

Giraffes  of  both  sexes  carry  two  "horns"  upon  the 
summit  of  the  head.  These  are  permanent  bony  protuber- 
ances or  processes  growing  from  the  skull,  and  are  covered 
with  yellowish  brown  hair,  which  at  the  tip  becomes  black. 
In  the  skulls  of  young  animals  these  false  horns  are  easily 
detachable,  but  in  the  adult  they  are  firmly  attached  to  the 
bony  framework  of  the  head,  partly  to  the  frontal  and 
partly  to  the  parietal  bones.  Adults  of  the  Nubian  form 
often  have  a  prominent  third  horn,  rising  from  the  centre 
of  the  forehead,  between  the  eyes,  to  a  height  of  from 
three  to  five  inches.  The  "horns,"  it  should  be  noted,  are 
persistent,  not  deciduous  as  the  antlers  of  deer. 

The  legs  are  long  and  slender;  the  knees  are  pro- 
tected by  thick  pads  or  callosities.  The  feet  have  cloven 
hoofs;  lateral  toes  are  absent.  The  end  of  the  tail  is  pro- 
vided with  a  long  tassel  of  hair  which  the  animals  are  in  the 
habit  of  pulling  out.  The  tail  is  an  article  much  in  favor 
with  eastern  Bantu  tribes,  and  has  a  value  of  from  ten  to 
fifty  shillings,  while  a  particularly  fine  specimen  is  worth 
up  to  five  pounds  sterling.  Giraffe-tails,  as  will  be  seen, 
are  figured  on  an  Egyptian  monument,  and  are  presented 
as  tribute  to  Tutenkhamon. 

The  dentition  of  the  giraffe  is  bovine:  it  has  altogether 
thirty-two  teeth,  six  grinders  on  each  side  both  above  and 
below,  and  eight  teeth  in  the  lower  jaw,  but  none  in  the 
upper  one.  These  lower  teeth  consist  of  three  incisors,  and 
are  canine  on  each  side,  the  canine  having  a  cleft  or  bilo- 
bate  crown. 

Its  food  consists  almost  entirely  of  the  leaves  and 
tender  shoots  of  mimosa-trees  and  an  acacia  (Acacia  gi- 
raffae)  commonly  known  as  the  kameel-dorn.  The  leaves 
are  plucked  off  one  by  one  by  its  long  extensile  and  flexible 
tongue,  which  is  thrust  far  out  of  the  mouth,  stretching 
around  the  leaves  and  pulling  them  tight,  and  then  it  cuts 
them  with  the  lower  canine  teeth.   The  tongue  is  about 


Giraffes  7 

seventeen  inches  long  and  covered  with  a  black  pigment. 
The  animals  feed  chiefly  in  early  morning  and  late  evening, 
resting  during  the  heat  of  the  day.  They  are  able  to  go  for 
considerable  periods  without  water,  and  are  found  in  the 
driest  country  long  distances  away  from  any  possible 
drinking-places.  The  Bushmen  even  assert  that  they  do 
not  drink  at  all;  at  any  rate,  they  are  singularly 
independent  of  water. 

The  giraffe  is  a  gentle,  inoffensive,  and  defenceless 
creature,  and  never  uses  its  horns  or  teeth  in  self-defence. 
Gibbon,  the  historian,  justly  speaks  of  "camelopards,  the 
loftiest  and  most  harmless  creatures  that  wander  over  the 
plains  of  Aethiopia."  The  heels  are  the  animal's  only 
weapon,  and  these  may  deal  a  very  powerful  kick.  Carl 
Hagenbeck  tells  in  his  memoirs  that  when  he  loaded  giraffes 
on  a  steamer  at  Alexandria  bound  for  Trieste,  one  of  his 
brothers  received  from  a  giraffe  so  energetic  a  blow  against 
his  chest  that  he  collapsed  and  remained  unconscious  for 
some  time.  The  lion  is  said  to  be  the  giraffe's  sole  enemy 
and  to  lie  in  ambush  for  it  in  the  thickets  by  rivers  and 
pools.  Bryden  thinks,  however,  that  lions  do  not  very 
often  succeed  in  killing  giraffes,  defenceless  though  they 
may  be;  and  when  they  do,  it  is  generally  a  solitary  animal 
(individuals  of  either  sex  are  often  seen  alone)  that  has 
been  surprised  and  pulled  down  by  a  party  of  lions. 

The  steppe  and  open  bush  country  are  the  proper 
home  of  the  giraffe,  but  occasionally  it  seeks  the  forest. 
The  animal  associates  in  herds  from  seven  to  sixteen  indi- 
viduals, though  sometimes  even  larger  numbers  have  been 
observed  in  a  flock.  There  is  usually  a  single  old  male 
in  these  herds,  the  others  being  young  males  and  females. 
The  oldest  males  are  often  found  solitary.  They  are  fond 
of  company  and  frequently  live  in  association  with  zebra, 
antelope,  wilde-beest,  and  ostrich.  They  are  difficult  of 
approach,  being  extremely  keen-sighted,  and  their  tower- 
ing height  enables  them  to  command  a  wide  view.  While 
their  senses  of  both  sight  and  smell  are  highly  developed 


8  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

and  very  acute,  they  have  no  voice  and  are  totally 
mute. 

They  sleep  standing,  but  some  individuals,  and  in 
some  localities  all  the  individuals,  habitually  lie  down  to 
sleep. 

The  peculiar  gait  of  the  giraffe  has  attracted  the  at- 
tention of  early  writers,  first  of  all  of  Heliodorus  (below, 
p.  62).  E.  Topsell,  in  his  "Historie  of  Four-footed  Beastes" 
(1607),  observes,  "The  pace  of  this  beast  differeth  from  all 
other  in  the  world,  for  he  doth  not  move  his  right  and  left 
foote  one  after  another,  but  both  together,  and  so  likewise 
the  other,  whereby  his  whole  body  is  removed  at  every 
step  or  straine." 

The  giraffe,  in  its  untrammeled  native  freedom,  has 
only  two  distinct  gaits, — the  walk  and  the  gallop,  not 
three,  as  in  the  case  of  the  camel. 

"As  may  be  gathered  from  observation  of  menagerie 
specimens,  giraffes  when  walking  do  not  move  their  fore 
and  hind  legs  of  opposite  sides  like  ordinary  mammals,  but 
the  fore  and  hind  leg  of  the  same  side,  like  a  camel.  They 
have  but  two  paces,  a  walk  and  a  gallop,  breaking  at  once 
from  one  into  the  other,  as  I  was  once  fortunate  enough  to 
observe  in  a  continental  Zoo"  (G.  Renshaw). 

W.  Maxwell,  who  has  taken  excellent  photographs  of 
galloping  giraffes  from  a  pursuing  motor-car,  writes,  "The 
giraffe,  in  its  native  surroundings,  is  one  of  the  most  cher- 
ished objects  to  the  nature  photographer  and  the  camera 
sportsman  alike.  To  photograph  these  animals  by  stalking 
up  to  them  in  open  bush  country,  which  is  their  usual  habi- 
tat, requires  skilful  tactics."  In  his  book  "Stalking  Big 
Game  with  a  Camera"  he  has  reproduced  the  gallop  of  the 
giraffe  in  three  stages.  "The  speed  at  which  the  giraffe 
can  travel  when  driven  to  its  utmost,"  he  says,  "varies 
between  twenty-eight  and  thirty-two  miles  an  hour  for 
distances  of  a  couple  of  miles  or  so,  and  is  about  as  much 
as  a  car  can  perform  at  a  breakneck  speed  for  this  kind  of 
country.  The  speed  of  the  giraffe  varies,  naturally,  accord- 


Giraffes  9 

ing  to  the  age  and  condition  of  the  animal."  The  young 
calves  are  said  to  be  wonderfully  fleet  and  far  more  nimble 
than  the  adult  animals.  The  giraffe,  accordingly,  is  not 
easily  overtaken  by  a  fleet  horse,  and  is  game  that  taxes 
the  skill  of  experienced  sportsmen.  Francis  Galton  (Nar- 
rative of  an  Explorer  in  Tropical  South  Africa  in  1851) 
informs  us,  "Giraffes  are  wonderful  climbers:  kudus  are 
the  best;  but  I  think  that  giraffes  come  next  to  them,  even 
before  the  zebras/' 

The  following  graphic  account  of  giraffe  stalking, 
which  simultaneously  presents  a  good  picture  of  the  ani- 
mal's life-habits,  is  given  by  Sir  Samuel  W.  Baker  (The 
Nile  Tributaries  of  Abyssinia,  1886) : — 

"For  many  days  past  we  have  seen  large  herds  of  gi- 
raffes and  many  antelopes  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river, 
about  two  miles  distant,  on  the  borders  of  the  Atbara,  into 
which  valley  the  giraffes  apparently  dared  not  descend,  but 
remained  on  the  table-land,  although  the  antelopes  ap- 
peared to  prefer  the  harder  soil  of  the  valley  slopes.  This 
day  a  herd  of  twenty-eight  giraffes  tantalized  me  by  des- 
cending a  short  distance  below  the  level  flats,  and  I  was 
tempted  at  all  hazards  across  the  river.  Accordingly  pre- 
parations were  immediately  made  for  a  start . . .  The  Arabs 
were  full  of  mettle,  as  their  minds  were  fixed  upon  giraffe 
venison. 

"I  had  observed  by  the  telescope  that  the  giraffes 
were  standing  as  usual  upon  an  elevated  position,  from 
whence  they  could  keep  a  good  lookout.  I  knew  it  would 
be  useless  to  ascend  the  slope  direct,  as  their  long  necks 
give  these  animals  an  advantage  similar  to  that  of  the  man 
at  the  mast-head;  therefore,  although  we  had  the  wind  in 
our  favor,  we  should  have  been  observed.  I  therefore 
determined  to  make  a  great  circuit  of  about  five  miles,  and 
thus  to  approach  them  from  above,  with  the  advantage  of 
the  broken  ground  for  stalking.  It  was  the  perfection  of 
uneven  country:  by  clambering  broken  cliffs,  wading  shoul- 
der-deep through  muddy  gullies,  sliding  down  the  steep 


10  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

ravines,  and  winding  through  narrow  bottoms  of  high 
grass  and  mimosas  for  about  two  hours,  we  at  length  ar- 
rived at  the  point  of  the  high  table-land  upon  the  verge  of 
which  I  had  first  noticed  the  giraffes  with  a  telescope. 
Almost  immediately  I  distinguished  the  tall  neck  of  one  of 
these  splendid  animals  about  a  half  a  mile  distant  upon  my 
left,  a  little  below  the  table-land;  it  was  feeding  on  the 
bushes,  and  I  quickly  discovered  several  others  near  the 
leader  of  the  herd.  I  was  not  far  enough  advanced  in  the 
circuit  that  I  had  intended  to  bring  me  exactly  above  them, 
therefore  I  turned  sharp  to  my  right,  intending  to  make  a 
short  half  circle,  and  to  arrive  on  the  leeward  side  of  the 
herd,  as  I  was  now  to  windward:  this  I  fortunately  com- 
pleted, but  I  had  marked  a  thick  bush  as  my  point  of 
cover,  and  upon  my  arrival  I  found  that  the  herd  had  fed 
down  wind,  and  that  I  was  within  two  hundred  yards  of 
the  great  bull  sentinel  that,  having  moved  from  his  former 
position,  was  now  standing  directly  before  me.  I  lay  down 
quietly  behind  the  bush  with  my  two  followers,  and  anxious- 
ly watched  the  great  leader,  momentarily  expecting  that 
it  would  get  my  wind.  It  was  shortly  joined  by  two 
others,  and  I  perceived  the  heads  of  several  giraffes  lower 
down  the  incline,  that  were  now  feeding  on  their  way  to 
the  higher  ground.  The  seroot  fly  was  teasing  them,  and  I 
remarked  that  several  birds  were  fluttering  about  their 
heads,  sometimes  perching  upon  their  noses  and  catching 
the  fly  that  attacked  their  nostrils,  while  the  giraffe  ap- 
peared relieved  by  their  attentions:  these  were  a  peculiar 
species  of  bird  that  attacks  the  domestic  animals,  and  not 
only  relieves  them  of  vermin,  but  eats  into  the  flesh,  and 
establishes  dangerous  sores.  A  puff  of  wind  now  gently 
faned  the  back  of  my  neck;  it  was  cool  and  delightful,  but 
no  sooner  did  I  feel  the  refreshing  breeze  than  I  knew  it 
would  convey  our  scent  direct  to  the  giraffes.  A  few  sec- 
onds afterwards,  the  three  grand  obelisks  threw  their  heads 
still  higher  in  the  air,  and  fixing  their  great  black  eyes  upon 
the  spot  from  which  the  danger  came,  they  remained  as 


Giraffes  11 

motionless  as  though  carved  from  stone.  From  their  great 
height  they  could  see  over  the  bush  behind  which  we  were 
lying  at  some  paces  distant,  and  although  I  do  not  think 
they  could  distinguish  us  to  be  men,  they  could  see  enough 
to  convince  them  of  hidden  enemies. 

"The  attitude  of  fixed  attention  and  surprise  of  the 
three  giraffes  was  sufficient  warning  for  the  rest  of  the  herd, 
who  immediately  filed  up  from  the  lower  ground,  and 
joined  their  comrades.  All  now  halted,  and  gazed  stead- 
fastly in  our  direction,  forming  a  superb  tableau;  their 
beautiful  mottled  skins  glancing  like  the  summer  coat  of 
a  thoroughbred  horse,  the  orange-colored  statues  standing 
out  in  high  relief  from  a  background  of  dark-green  mimosas. 

"This  beautiful  picture  soon  changed.  I  knew  that  my 
chance  of  a  close  shot  was  hopeless,  as  they  would  pre- 
sently make  a  rush,  and  be  off;  thus  I  determined  to  get 
the  first  start.  I  had  previously  studied  the  ground,  and  I 
concluded  that  they  would  push  forward  at  right  angles 
with  my  position,  as  they  had  thus  ascended  the  hill,  and 
that,  on  reaching  the  higher  ground,  they  would  turn  to 
the  right,  in  order  to  reach  an  immense  tract  of  high  grass, 
as  level  as  a  billiard-table,  from  which  no  danger  could 
approach  them  unobserved. 

"I  accordingly  with  a  gentle  movement  of  my  hand 
directed  my  people  to  follow  me,  and  I  made  a  sudden  rush 
forward  at  full  speed.  Off  went  the  herd ;  shambling  along 
at  a  tremendous  pace,  whisking  their  long  tails  above  their 
hind  quarters,  and  taking  exactly  the  direction  I  had  anti- 
cipated, they  offered  me  a  shoulder  shot  at  a  little  within 
two  hundred  yards'  distance.  Unfortunately,  I  fell  into  a 
deep  hole  concealed  by  the  high  grass,  and  by  the  time  that 
I  resumed  the  hunt  they  had  increased  their  distance,  but 
I  observed  the  leader  turned  sharp  to  the  right,  through 
some  low  mimosa  bush,  to  make  direct  for  the  open  table- 
land. I  made  a  short  cut  obliquely  at  my  best  speed,  and 
only  halted  when  I  saw  that  I  should  lose  ground  by  alter- 
ing my  position.   Stopping  short,  I  was  exactly  opposite 


12  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

the  herd  as  they  filed  by  me  at  right  angles  in  full  speed, 
within  about  a  hundred  and  eighty  yards.  I  had  my  old 
Ceylon  No.  10  double  rifle,  and  I  took  a  steady  shot  at  a 
large  dark-colored  bull:  the  satisfactory  sound  of  the  ball 
upon  his  hide  was  followed  almost  immediately  by  his 
blundering  forward  for  about  twenty  yards,  and  falling 
heavily  in  the  low  bush.  I  heard  the  crack  of  the  ball  of  my 
left-hand  barrel  upon  another  fine  beast,  but  no  effect  fol- 
lowed. Bacheet  quickly  gave  me  the  single  2-ounce 
Manton  rifle,  and  I  singled  out  a  fine  dark-colored  bull,  who 
fell  upon  his  knees  to  the  shot,  but  recovering,  hobbled  off 
disabled,  apart  from  the  herd,  with  a  foreleg  broken  just 
below  the  shoulder.  Reloading  immediately,  I  ran  up  to 
the  spot,  where  I  found  my  first  giraffe  lying  dead,  with 
the  ball  clean  through  both  shoulders:  the  second  was  stand- 
ing about  one  hundred  paces  distant;  upon  my  approach 
he  attempted  to  move,  but  immediately  fell,  and  was  dis- 
patched by  my  eager  Arabs.  I  followed  the  herd  for  about 
a  mile  to  no  purpose,  through  deep  clammy  ground  and 
high  grass,  and  I  returned  to  our  game. 

"These  were  my  first  giraffes,  and  I  admired  them  as 
they  lay  before  me  with  a  hunter's  pride  and  satisfaction,  but 
mingled  with  a  feeling  of  pity  for  such  beautiful  and  utterly 
helpless  creatures.  The  giraffe,  although  from  sixteen  to 
twenty  feet  in  height,  is  perfectly  defenceless,  and  can 
only  trust  to  the  swiftness  of  its  pace,  and  the  extraordi- 
nary power  of  vision,  for  its  means  of  protection.  The  eye 
of  this  animal  is  the  most  beautiful  exaggeration  of  that 
of  the  gazelle,  while  the  color  of  the  reddish-orange  hide, 
mottled  with  darker  spots,  changes  the  tints  of  the  skin 
with  the  differing  rays  of  light,  according  to  the  muscular 
movement  of  the  body.  No  one  who  has  merely  seen  the 
giraffe  in  a  cold  climate  can  form  the  least  idea  of  its 
beauty  in  its  native  land." 

K.  Moebius,  author  of  a  work  on  the  esthetics  of  the 
animal  kingdom  (Aesthetik  der  Tierwelt,  1908),  maintains 
that  the  giraffe  is  regarded  as  ugly  by  the  majority  of 


Giraffes  18 

people  on  account  of  its  disproportionate  members,  but 
concedes  that  it  makes  a  deep  esthetic  impression  when  it 
lifts  its  long  neck  straight  above  its  massive  chest,  calmly 
looking  downward  or  gazing  into  the  distance  with  its 
large,  black,  long-lashed  eyes;  its  form  and  color,  in  his 
estimation,  are  well  adapted  to  the  character  of  its  habitat, 
yet  it  conveys  to  most  people  the  impression  of  an  ugly 
animal;  in  his  opinion,  it  is  an  evident  example  of  the  fact 
that  suitable  organization  does  not  render  animals  beauti- 
ful, but  that  besides  it  they  must  have  other  qualities  to  be 
pleasing.  Aside  from  the  fact  that  there  is  nothing  ugly  in 
nature  and  that  "foul  and  fair"  are  relative  notions  much 
depending  on  our  moods  and  point  of  view,  the  giraffe  can- 
not be  judged  from  menagerie  specimens  to  which  the  im- 
pressions of  most  of  us  are  confined.  The  free  denizen  of 
the  wide,  open  arid  plains  of  Africa  will  naturally  forfeit  its 
best  qualities  in  the  narrow  enclosures  of  our  animal  prison 
camps.  The  giraffe  must  be  observed  in  the  freedom  of  its 
native  haunts.  Sir  Samuel  W.  Baker  writes,  "No  one  who 
has  merely  seen  the  giraffe  in  a  cold  climate  can  form  the 
least  idea  of  its  beauty  in  its  native  land." 

"The  spectacle  of  a  troop  of  wild  giraffe,"  Bryden 
writes,  "is  certainly  one  of  the  most  wonderful  things  in 
nature.  The  uncommon  shape,  the  great  height,  the  long, 
slouching  stride,  the  slender  necks,  reaching  hither  and 
thither  among  the  spreading  leafage  of  the  camel-thorn 
trees,  the  rich  coloring  of  the  animal — all  these  things  com- 
bine to  render  the  first  meeting  with  the  giraffe  in  their 
native  haunts  one  of  the  most  striking  and  memorable  of 
experiences."  He  further  characterizes  them  as  strangely 
beautiful,  grotesquely  graceful  creatures  and  withal  so 
harmless.  Marco  Polo,  who  was  a  keen  observer  and  pos- 
sessed of  sound  judgement  in  most  matters,  calls  them 
"beautiful  creatures  to  look  at,"  and  I  think  he  is  right. 

In  perusing  the  historical  sketches  to  follow  the  reader 
should  bear  in  mind  that  all  early  descriptions  and  il- 
lustrations of  the  giraffe  (with  the  sole  exception  of  the 


14  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

Nubian  and  Bushmen  petroglyphs  in  Figs.  5  and  10)  are 
based  on  observation  of  more  or  less  tame  animals  who  were 
taken  while  young  and  reared  in  captivity.  The  study  of 
the  wild  giraffe  in  its  natural  surroundings  is  of  compara- 
tively recent  date  and  due  to  the  vast  progress  of  zoological 
science  and  animal  photography.  We  must  remain  con- 
scious of  this  distinction  between  the  past  and  the  present, 
for  it  has  been  observed  that  giraffes  in  the  wild  state  are 
in  many  respects  superior,  much  deeper  and  richer  in  color- 
ing than  those  in  captivity,  are  better  nourished,  stronger 
and  considerably  heavier  than  those  bred  in  confinement; 
and  Bryden  is  even  inclined  to  think  that  there  is  a  greater 
difference  between  wild  and  captive  examples  of  giraffes 
than  in  any  other  animals. 

It  is  not  without  interest  to  pass  in  review  the  role 
which  so  curious  a  creature  has  played  in  its  relation  to 
mankind,  to  record  the  impressions  which  it  has  left  on 
past  generations,  and  to  study  the  question  as  to  how  the 
artists  of  all  ages  acquitted  themselves  of  the  task  to  render 
it  justice  in  portraiture.  The  Bushmen  and  the  ancient 
Egyptians,  the  Persians  as  well  as  the  Chinese,  the  ancient 
Romans  as  well  as  the  Italian  painters  of  the  Renaissance 
and  other  European  artists  furnish  interesting  contribu- 
tions to  this  question,  and  it  has  seemed  to  me  worth  while 
to  place  their  work  here  on  record.  Ever  since  in  1908  I 
obtained  in  China  the  Chinese  painting  of  a  giraffe,  my 
interest  in  this  subject  has  been  aroused,  and  it  was  a 
pleasant,  though  not  always  easy  task  embodying  a  great 
deal  of  intense  research  to  trace  the  vicissitudes  of  the 
giraffe  through  all  lands  and  ages  down  to  modern 
times.  This  essay  is  an  attempt  at  a  biography  and  icono- 
graphy of  the  giraffe  and  endeavors  to  assemble  all  impor- 
tant historical  data  that  have  become  known  in  whatever 
countries  it  made  its  appearance. 


THE  GIRAFFE  IN  ANCIENT  EGYPT 

The  giraffe  is  one  of  the  animals  which  appears  to 
have  been  known  to  the  Egyptians  from  times  of  earliest 
antiquity.  A  pictographic  sign  for  the  animal  appears  in 
hieroglyphic  writing  (see  Fig.  9  on  right  side),  and  is  parti- 
cularly employed  to  denote  the  verb  "to  dispose,  to 
arrange."  The  old  word  for  the  giraffe  is  sr  (the  vowels  of 
Egyptian  are  unknown)  which  Brugsch  connects  with  a 
Hebrew  root  and  explains  from  the  constantly  swinging 
motion  of  the  animal's  body  when  at  rest.  It  seems  more 
likely  that  this  word  bears  some  relation  to  Ethiopic  zarat 
(compare  Arabic  zarafa),  or  may  even  be  derived  from  the 
latter.   The  later  Egyptian  term  for  the  giraffe  is  mmy. 

While  there  is  apparently  no  written  account  of  the  gi- 
raffe preserved,  presumably  because  it  did  not  rank  among 
sacred  animals,  we  receive  from  the  monuments  of  Egypt 
and  Nubia  the  earliest  sculptured  and  pictorial  representa- 
tions of  giraffes  which  belong  to  the  best  known  in  the 
history  of  art.  Moreover,  the  Egyptians  show  us  also  how 
the  interesting  figure  of  the  giraffe  may  be  utilized  for  the 
purposes  of  decorative  art. 

In  the  earliest  prehistoric  period  of  Egyptian  civiliza- 
tion, animal  life  was  much  more  plentiful  in  the  unsubdued 
jungles  of  Egypt  than  in  later  times  and  at  present.  The 
great  quantity  of  ivory  employed  by  the  people  and  the 
representations  upon  their  pottery  show  that  the  elephant 
was  still  living  in  their  midst;  likewise  the  giraffe,  the  hip- 
popotamus, and  the  strange  okapi,  which  was  deified  as 
the  god  Set,  wandered  through  the  jungles,  though  all  these 
animals  were  extinct  in  the  historical  period  (Breasted, 
History  of  Egypt,  p.  30).  The  animal  represented  by  Set 
is  identified  by  Schweinfurth  with  the  African  ant-bear 
(Orycteropus  aethiopicus) . 

In  this  primitive  epoch  giraffes  were  used  as  a  deco- 
rative motives  on  various  objects.    Giraffes  are  possibly 

15 


16 


Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 


intended  in  the  handles  of  ivory  combs  (Fig.  2) ;  there  are 
other  such  combs  surmounted  by  figures  of  antelopes.  A 
giraffe  is  clearly  outlined  on  the  surface  of  a  painted  vase 
(Fig.  3),  and  possibly  also  appears  as  a  mark  on  pottery 
(Capart,  Primitive  Art  in  Egypt,  p.  140). 


Fig.  2. 

Ivory  Combs  with  Figures  of  Giraffes.   Ancient  Egypt. 

After  Capart. 

Fig.  4  represents  an  archaic  slate  palette  carved  in  re- 
lief, from  Hieraconpolis,  showing  the  trunk  of  a  palm-tree 
in  the  middle  and  two  giraffes  standing  one  on  each  side  of 
it,  apparently  browsing.  F.  Legge,  who  published  a  similar 
slate  only  the  lower  part  of  which  is  preserved,  showing  the 
body  and  legs  of  two  giraffes  (Proceedings  Society  of  Bibli- 
cal Archaeology,  1900,  Plate  VI),  concludes  that  the  scene 
depicted  is  taking  place  in  Upper  Egypt  or  rather  in  the 
Sudan,  the  giraffe  not  being  found  above  the  fifteenth  de- 


LEAFLET  27. 


PLATE  II. 


PERSIAN  PAINTING  OF  A  GIRAFFE  (p.  38). 

From  a  Persian  Bestiary  of  the  Thirteenth  Century  in  the  Pierpont  Morgan 

Library,  New  York- 


The  Giraffe  in  Ancient  Egypt 


17 


gree  of  latitude.    The  four  dogs  around  the  plaque  are 
defined  by  B6n6dite  as  Molossian  hounds. 

On  an  expedition  to  Lower  Nubia  in  1906  Professor 
Breasted  heard  a  report  current  among  the  natives  that 
there  is  an  unknown  temple  far  out  in  the  desert  behind  Abu 
Simbel.   Various  explorers  had  examined  the  neighboring 


Fig.  8. 

Vase  with  Painting  of  Giraffe.   Ancient  Egypt. 

After  Capart. 

desert  in  the  hope  of  finding  it,  but  were  unsuccessful.  Ac- 
companied by  a  native  who  assured  him  that  he  had 
located  this  temple,  Professor  Breasted  struck  out  into  the 
desert.  After  a  two  hours'  journey  his  guide  pointed  to 
what  looked  much  like  a  distant  building  rising  out  of  the 
sand  in  the  north.   "As  we  drew  near,"  he  writes  (Ameri- 


18 


Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 


can  Journal  of  Semitic  Languages,  1906,  p.  35),  the  sup- 
posed building  resolved  itself  into  an  isolated  crag  of  rock 
projecting  from  the  sand,  and  pierced  by  two  openings 


Fig.  4. 
Two  Giraffes  Facing  a  Palm-tree  on  a  Slate  Palette.   Ancient  Egypt. 
After  Capart. 

which  passed  completely  through  it,  so  that  the  desert 
hills  on  the  far  horizon  were  clearly  visible  through  them. 


The  Giraffe  in  Ancient  Egypt 


19 


One  of  these  openings  very  much  resembles  a  door,  and,  to 
complete  the  delusion,  it  bears  on  one  side  a  number  of 
prehistoric  drawings — two  boats,  two  giraffes,  two  os- 
triches, and  a  number  of  smaller  animals — which  might  be 
easily  mistaken  by  a  native  for  hieroglyphic  writing.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  this  curious  natural  formation  and 
the  archaic  drawings  upon  it  are  the  source  of  the  fabled 
temple  in  the  desert  behind  Abu  Simbel." 

Professor  Breasted  very  kindly  placed  at  my  disposal 
two  photographs  of  these  rock-carvings  taken  by  him,  from 


Fig.  6. 

Prehistoric  Rock-carvings  of  Giraffes.   Lower  Nubia. 

From  photographs  by  Professor  Breasted. 

which  the  giraffes  in  Fig.  5  have  been  drawn.  These,  in  all 
probability,  are  the  oldest  representations  of  giraffes  in  the 
world,  and  by  their  clever  obversation  of  motion  also  rank 
among  the  best  ever  made.  They  are  the  spontaneous  pro- 
ductions of  a  primitive  artist  with  a  keen  eye  for  observa- 
tion and  possessed  of  great  power  of  expression. 

Under  the  fifth  dynasty  (2750-2625  B.  C.)  Sahure  con- 
tinued the  development  of  Egypt  as  the  earliest  known 
naval  power  in  history.  He  dispatched  a  fleet  on  a  voyage 


20 


Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 


to  Punt,  as  the  Egyptians  called  the  Somali  coast  at  the 
south  end  of  the  Red  Sea,  and  along  the  south  side  of  the 
Gulf  of  Aden.  From  that  region,  which,  like  the  whole 
east,  he  termed  the  God's  Land,  he  obtained  the  fragrant 
gums  and  resins  so  much  desired  for  incense  and  ointments. 
One  of  the  most  important  events  of  the  reign  of 
Queen  Hatshepsut  (eighteenth  dynasty,  about  1501-1480 
B.  C.)  was  a  naval  expedition  to  the  land  of  Punt  with  the 
object  to  establish  commercial  relations  with  peoples  of 


Fig.  6. 
Giraffe  from  a  Punt  Scene  at  Der  el-Bahri. 
From  a  photograph. 

what  is  now  the  Somali  coast.  A  sculptured  record  of  this 
peaceful  expedition  is  preserved  on  the  southern  half  of  the 
wall  stretching  behind  the  middle  colonnade  of  her  temple 
at  Der  el-Bahri  situated  on  the  west  side  of  the  river  at 
Thebes.  In  this  procession  the  giraffe  is  well  represented 
(Fig.  6),  unfortunately  mutilated;  but  even  without  its 
head  it  is  a  magnificent  work  of  art,  body  and  legs  being 
exceedingly  well  modeled.  According  to  E.  Naville  (The 
Temple  of  Deir  El  Bahari,  p.  21.  Egypt  Exploration  Fund, 


The  Giraffe  in  Ancient  Egypt 


21 


XII,  1894),  the  giraffe  is  said  to  come  from  the  country 
Khenthennofer,  not  from  the  coast.  This  region  is  gener- 
ally distinguished  from  Punt;  the  two  countries,  however, 
were  contiguous,  but  of  somewhat  wide  and  indefinite  ex- 
tent, Punt  possessing  a  coast  where  vessels  could  land, 
while  Khenthennofer  was  located  in  the  mountainous  in- 
terior. The  two  countries  had  a  mixed  population  which 
included  Negroes,  and  their  products  were  almost  identical. 
Ivory,  live  panthers,  panther-skins,  monkeys,  gold,  ebony, 


Fig.  7. 
Giraffe  from  the  Presentation  of  Tribute  to  Tutenkhamon. 
After  Nina  de  Garis  Daviea. 

and  antimony  were  common  to  both.  All  these  products 
being  typically  African,  it  is  evident  that  Queen  Hatshep- 
sut's  expedition  had  been  directed  to  the  east  coast  of 
Africa.  Wealthy  Egyptians  were  fond  of  keeping  live  speci- 
mens of  the  fauna  of  Punt  like  dogs,  monkeys,  panthers, 
leopards,  and  giraffes. 

The  illustration  in  Fig  7,  showing  a  walking  giraffe 
guided  by  a  Nubian,  forms  part  of  the  Presentation  of 
Tribute  to  Tutenkhamon,  depicted  on  the  walls  of  the 
tomb  of  Huy,  viceroy  of  Nubia  under  the  reign  of  Tuten- 
khamon (compare  Nina  de  Garis  Davies  and  A.  H.  Gardi- 


22 


Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 


ner,  The  Tomb  of  Huy,  in  The  Theban  Tombs  Series, 
London,  1926).  This  tomb  is  situated  high  up  on  the  east- 
ern slope  of  the  hill  known  as  Kurnet  Murrai  which  rises 
from  the  plain  at  a  little  distance  north  of  Medinet  Habu. 
On  the  west  wall  of  the  tomb  are  depicted  scenes  of  Huy 
bringing  the  tribute  of  Nubia  to  the  Pharaoh.  Huy  ap- 
proaches the  royal  presence  from  the  south,  holding  in  his 


..-**lJlV..Li*- 


■  k.dl.4. _**_!' 


Fig.  8. 

Giraffes  under  Palm-trees  from  the  Presentation  of  Tribute  to  Tutenkhamon. 

After  Nina  de  Garis  Davie*. 

left  hand  a  crooked  staff  betokening  his  viceregal  authority, 
and  with  the  right  waving  the  ostrich-feather  fan  which 
was  his  Derogative  as  "fan-bearer  at  the  right  of  the  king." 
Tutenkhamon  sits  in  state  under  his  baldachin.  Immedi- 
ately behind  the  figure  of  Huy  are  shown  choice  samples  of 
Nubian  tribute.  Gold  in  rings  and  "gold  tied  up"  in  bags 
are  there,  together  with  dishes  of  carnelian  or  red  jasper 


The  Giraffe  in  Ancient  Egypt  23 

and  of  a  green  mineral.  There  are  tusks  of  white  ivory  and 
jet-black  logs  of  ebony.  A  model  chariot  of  gold  is  sup- 
ported by  an  attendant  Negro,  perhaps  of  ebony,  on  a  gold 
pedestal.  Under  the  chariot  appears  to  be  a  golden  shrine. 
Heraldically  arranged  palm-trees,  with  monkeys  climbing 
in  their  branches  and  giraffes  nibbling  at  their  leaves  are 
shown  in  another  scene  (Fig.  8),  together  with  kneeling 
Negroes  in  an  attitude  of  adoration  and  with  others  hold- 
ing cords  attached  to  the  necks  of  the  giraffes.  This  scene 
is  remarkable  for  its  grace  and  exquisite  realism.  There  are 
also  Nubians  carrying  gold,  skins,  and  giraffes'  tails  (the 
latter  being  painted  black).  Giraffes'  tails  are  highly 
prized  from  Kordofan  to  Uganda  (see  above,  p.  6  and 
below,  p.  87).  In  an  Egyptian  story  they  figure  among  the 
presents  given  to  a  ship-wrecked  sailor  by  his  kindly  host, 
the  giant  serpent. 

The  walking  giraffe  amid  the  tribute-bearers  (Fig.  7) 
is  a  very  young  bull  of  the  Nubian  variety.  It  is  light  pink- 
ish brown  in  color,  with  a  few  markings  on  the  neck.  The 
immaturity  of  the  animal  is  denoted  by  the  very  slight 
development  of  the  median  horn. 

The  temples  of  Nubia  contain  many  references  to  the 
Nubian  wars  of  Ramses  II  (1292-25  B.  C).  Among  the 
scenes  cut  on  the  rock  side-walls  of  the  excavated  forecourt 
of  the  Bet  el-Walli  temple  there  is  one  portraying  Ramses 
enthroned  on  the  right;  approaching  from  the  left  are  two 
longlinesof  Negroes,  bringing  furniture  of  ebony  and  ivory, 
panther-hides,  gold  in  large  rings,  bows,  myrrh,  shields, 
elephants'  tusks,  billets  of  ebony,  ostrich  feathers,  ostrich 
eggs,  live  animals  including  monkeys,  panthers,  a  giraffe, 
ibexes,  a  dog,  oxen  with  curved  horns,  and  an  ostrich 
(Breasted,  Ancient  Records  of  Egypt,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  203). 
The  giraffe  in  this  rock-carving  is  of  naturalistic  style,  but 
is  not  quite  so  accurate  and  true  to  nature  as  in  other 
Egyptian  monuments.  It  is  reproduced  by  Professor 
Breasted  in  American  Journal  of  Semitic  Languages 
(Vol.  XXIII,  1906,  p.  62). 


24 


Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 


Fig.  9,  illustrating  a  giraffe  with  a  monkey  on  its  back, 
is  from  the  tomb  of  Amunezeh  (eighteenth  dynasty)  at 
Shekh  Abd  el-Gurna  (compare  Max  W.  Muller,  Egypto- 
logical Researches,  Vol.  II,  Carnegie  Institution  of  Wash- 
ington, 1910,  p.  52  and  colored  reproductions  in  Plate  31). 
This  is  also  from  a  series  of  wall-paintings  representing 


Fig.  9. 

Giraffe  with  Baboon  from  the  Tomb  of  Amunezeh. 

After  W.  Max  MUtler. 

tributes  of  the  Nubians.  The  color  of  the  animal  is  almost 
brown  dotted  with  black  spots.  The  hoofs  are  blue  (in- 
tended for  black).  The  monkey,  probably  a  baboon,  is 
green-blue  with  a  red  face  and  exaggerated  long  tail.  The 
uplifted  hand  of  the  leader  must  have  held  a  rope  tied  to 
the  baboon,  and  he  guides  the  giraffe  by  a  rope  fastened 


The  Giraffe  in  Ancient  Egypt  25 

to  its  right  fore  leg.  To  the  right  of  the  animal  the  hiero- 
glyph for  the  giraffe  is  added. 

Two  small  green-glazed  figurines  of  the  Saitic  or  Ptole- 
maic epoch  have  been  published  and  described  by  G. 
Daressy  (Deux  figurations  de  giraffe,  Annales  du  Service 
des  Antiquity  de  l'Egypte,  Cairo,  Vol.  VII,  1906,  pp.  GI- 
GS, 2  figs.).  These  represent  figures  of  a  headless  man  with 
what  is  explained  as  a  giraffe  crouching  beside  him.  It  is 
difficult,  however,  to  recognize  giraffes  in  these  animals,  as 
far  as  the  illustrations  published  in  the  article  are  con- 
cerned. Crouching  giraffes  are  not  known  from  Egyptian 
monuments,  and  no  clay  figures  of  giraffes  have  become 
known  from  the  Ptolemaic  and  Graeco-Roman  periods. 

Ptolemy  II  Philadelphus  (285-247  B.C.)  showed  a  live 
giraffe  to  the  inhabitants  of  Alexandria  in  his  triumphal 
procession  through  this  city.  In  all  periods  of  history 
Egypt  continued  to  be  the  great  distributing  centre  for 
giraffes,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  chapters  to  follow.  It  sup- 
plied them  to  the  Romans,  the  emperors  of  Byzance,  the 
Arab  Caliphs,  to  Spain  and  Italy  in  the  middle  ages,  and 
to  Italy,  France,  and  England  in  more  recent  times. 


REPRESENTATIONS  OF  THE  GIRAFFE  IN 
AFRICA  OUTSIDE  OF  EGYPT 

We  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  Bushmen  as  ostrich - 
hunters  and  artists  depicting  the  ostrich  (Leaflet  23). 
They  were  no  less  successful  in  producing  rapid  and  vivid 
outline  sketches  of  giraffes.  At  the  time  of  the  great 
artistic  development  of  the  Bushmen  the  whole  fauna  of 
South  Africa  was  immensely  rich  and  abounded  in  animals 
now  extinct,  like  the  oryx  which  frequented  the  plains  of 
the  Zwart  Kei,  the  giraffe  which  abounded  in  the  forests  of 
Transval,  buffalo,  elephant,  rhinoceros,  hippopotamus, 
zebra,  quagga,  gnu,  antelopes,  and  ostrich. 

Fig.  10  represents  a  running  giraffe  cut  in  sandstone 
by  the  Bushmen  in  the  Orange  River  Colony.  G.  W.  Stow 
(Native  Races  of  South  Africa)  mentions  after  Barrow  a 
Bushman  cave-drawing  of  a  giraffe  and  writes  that  he 
found  himself  several  drawings  of  it  in  the  Zwart  Kei  and 
Tsomo  caves,  also  in  the  Wittebergen  of  the  Orange  Free 
State.  This,  according  to  Stow,  indubitably  proves  that  the 
giraffe  was  found  in  the  early  days  over  a  far  wider  area 
of  country  than  at  present.  Stow  also  refers  to  a  number 
of  chippings,  chiefly  representations  of  animals  at  Pniel, 
among  these  the  head  and  neck  of  a  giraffe  which  is  said  to 
be  remarkably  fine,  both  on  account  of  its  large  size  and 
the  correctness  of  its  outline. 

G.  M.  Theal  holds  that  no  giraffes  have  ever  been 
seen  by  Europeans  south  of  the  Orange  River,  but  that  as 
profiles  of  them  are  found  in  Bushman  paintings  along  the 
Zwart  Kei  and  Tsomo  Rivers,  it  is  believed  that  they  must 
once  have  existed  there.  It  may  be  the  case,  however,  that 
in  their  artistic  efforts  the  Bus  men  did  not  confine  them- 
selves to  the  animals  of  their  habitat,  but  may  also  have 
illustrated  animals  they  encountered  during  their  rovings 
over  the  country. 

26 


The  Giraffe  in  Africa 


27 


28 


Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 


04 

•a 

So   . 

I  S  2 

a  I  t 

*11 

I -a  I 
°  e  B 

5  ! 


The  Giraffe  in  Africa 


29 


In  the  folk-lore  of  the  Hottentot  the  giraffe  plays  a 
prominent  role. 

A  wall-painting  from  a  council-room  in  the  royal  "pal- 
ace" at  Gaviro,  Ubena,  in  Southeast  Africa,  shows  three 
giraffes  in  company  with  two  zebras  (Fig.  11).  While  some- 
what stiff  and  rather  inexact  in  the  shape  of  the  body  and 
legs,  the  movement  and  action  of  the  animals  are  well  ob- 
served, especially  in  the  first,  that  bends  its  neck  down- 
ward and  touches  one  of  the  zebras,  and  in  the  third  of 
which  only  the  front  part  is  represented. 


Fig.  12. 
Rock-engraving  of  Giraffe.  Tuareg,  Sahara. 
After  E.  F.  Gautier. 

Fig.  12  illustrates  a  giraffe  engraved  in  a  rock  in  the 
Tuareg  country  in  the  Sahara.  This  station  of  rock-carv- 
ings among  which  camels,  hunters  on  camel-back,  and 
many  other  animals  are  found,  was  discovered  by  E.  F. 
Gautier  in  1903  (described  by  him  in  U Anthropologic, 
1904,  p.  497).  In  his  opinion,  this  picture  bears  all  char- 
acteristics of  a  very  great  antiquity.  The  lines  are  deeply 
and  profoundly  cut.  It  is  curious  to  find  a  representation 
of  the  giraffe  in  the  desert  area,  where  it  has  never  occurred. 


30  Field  Museum  op  Natural  Histoey 

According  to  Gautier,  the  giraffe  is  theonly  animal  in  the 
art  of  Tuareg  that  does  not  belong  to  the  fauna  of  the 
region,  while  all  other  animals  do.  This  problem  is  not 
hard  to  solve,  however.  Considering  the  fact  that  live 
giraffes  were  traded  by  the  Arabs  to  Mediterranean  and 
Asiatic  countries  and  that  the  commerce  in  giraffes  goes 
back  to  the  early  relations  between  Egypt  and  Punt, 
giraffes  could  have  been  brought  to  Tuareg  as  well. 


THE  GIRAFFE  AMONG  ARABS  AND  PERSIANS 

The  giraffe  was  not  known  to  the  Hebrews  at  the 
time  of  Moses,  as  was  formerly  believed.  This  opinion 
was  suggested  by  the  Hebrew  word  zamar  or  zemer,  which 
occurs  in  Deuteronomy  (XIV,  5),  and  solely  in  this  pass- 
age as  one  of  the  animals  whose  flesh  was  sanctioned  by  the 
Mosaic  legislation.  In  the  Seventy  this  Hebrew  animal 
name  has  been  translated  into  Greek  as  kamelopardalis, 
and  the  Vulgate  gives  camelopardalus  as  the  corresponding 
Latin  translation.  Edward  Topsell,  author  of  "The  His- 
orie  of  Four-footed  Beastes"  (1607),  writes  that  the  "flesh 
of  the  giraffe  is  good  for  meat,  and  was  allowed  to  the  Jews 
by  God  himselfe  for  a  cleane  beast."  J.  Ogilby,  in  his  work 
"Africa"  (1607),  commits  a  curious  error  by  writing  with 
reference  to  the  giraffe,  "Caesar  first  shewed  him  at  Rome, 
though  'tis  probable  they  formerly  abounded  in  Judea, 
being  a  food  prohibited  to  the  Jews."  There  is  no  evidence 
whatever  to  the  effect  that  the  giraffe  ever  occurred  in  Pal- 
estine or  anywhere  in  western  Asia  during  historical  times, 
nor  is  it  safe  to  assume  with  Joly  and  Lavocat  that  Moses 
might  have  been  acquainted  with  the  animal  from  pictures 
on  Egyptian  monuments.  A  legislator  permits  or  prohibits 
an  animal  known  to  his  nation  from  real  life,  but  hardly 
one  merely  known  pictorially.  Bochart,  in  his  erudite  folio 
on  the  animals  of  the  Bible  (Hierozoicon),  has  arrived  at 
the  conclusion  that  the  ancient  Hebrews  were  not  ac- 
quainted with  the  giraffe,  and  explains  zamar  as  a  species  of 
antelope,  probably  the  chamois  (Antilope  rupicapra). 
"Chamois"  was  adopted  by  the  English  Version  as  render- 
ing of  zamar,  but  this,  in  all  probability,  is  not  correct 
either,  for  the  chamois  does  not  occur  in  Palestine.  The 
general  consensus  of  opinion  now  is  that  the  "camelopar- 
dalis"  of  the  Seventy  rests  on  a  mistranslation  and  that  the 
animal  intended  by  the  Hebrew  word  is  the  wild  goat  or 
mountain  sheep  with  curved  horns.  Professor  J.  M.  Powis 

31 


32  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

Smith  of  the  University  of  Chicago  informs  me,  "The  best 
rendering  of  zamar  is  'mountain  sheep.'  The  Seventy 
rendering,  I  take  it,  is  a  mere  guess  and  a  wild  one  at 
that.  The  word  was  probably  unknown,  and  they  took  a 
free  shot  at  it." 

The  Arabs  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  giraffe  in 
Abyssinia  at  a  comparatively  late  period.  Their  name  for 
the  animal,  zarafa  or  zurafa,  is  supposed  to  be  derived  from 
Ethiopic  zarat.  In  early  Arabic  poetry  the  animal  is  not 
mentioned,  as  it  never  occurred  in  Arabia.      * 

Masudi,  an  eminent  Arabic  traveller  and  historian, 
who  died  in  A.D.  956  or  957,  writes  that  the  giraffe  generally 
lives  in  Nubia,  but  is  not  found  in  Abyssinia;  there  is  no 
agreement  as  to  the  origin  of  the  animal;  some  regard  it  as 
a  variety  of  the  camel,  others  assert  that  it  has  sprung  from 
the  union  of  the  camel  and  the  panther;  others,  again,  hold 
that  it  is  a  distinct  species  like  the  horse,  the  donkey,  and 
the  ox,  not,  however,  the  product  of  a  crossing  like  the  mule. 
He  emphasizes  the  giraffe's  gentleness  and  the  affection 
which  it  displays  for  the  members  of  its  family,  and  adds 
that  in  this  species,  in  the  same  manner  as  among  ele- 
phants, there  are  wild  and  tame  individuals. 

Ibn  al-Faqih,  an  Arabic  geographer  from  Hamadan 
in  Persia,  who  wrote  about  A.D.  1022,  gives  the  following 
account: — 

"The  giraffe  lives  in  Nubia.  It  is  said  that  it  takes  its 
place  between  the  panther  and  the  camel  mare,  that  the 
panther  mates  with  the  latter  who  produces  the  giraffe. 
There  are  cases  analogous  to  this  one:  thus  the  horse  pairs 
with  the  ass,  the  wolf  with  the  hyena,  the  panther  with  the 
lioness  from  whom  the  pard  issues.  The  giraffe  has  the 
stature  of  the  camel,  the  head  of  a  stag,  hoofs  like  those  of 
cattle,  and  a  tail  like  a  bird.  Its  fore  legs  (literally, 
'hands')  have  two  callosities,  while  these  are  lacking  in  its 
hind  legs.  Its  skin  is  panther-like  and  presents  a  marvel- 
lous sight.  In  Persia  the  animal  is  called  'camel-bull-  pan- 
ther' (ushtur  or  shutur-gdw-palank),  because  it  has  some- 


The  Giraffe  Among  Arabs  and  Persians  83 

thing  in  common  with  each  of  these  three.  Some  scholars 
assert  that  the  giraffe  is  generated  by  stallions  of  various 
kinds.  This,  however,  is  erroneous,  for  the  horse  does  not 
impregnate  the  camel  nor  does  the  camel  the  cow." 

Zakariya  al-Qazwini  (1203-83),  Arabic  author  of  a  cos- 
mography and  a  work  on  historical  geography,  writes 
in  his  description  of  Abyssinia  thus: — 

"The  giraffe  is  produced  by  the  camel  mare,  the  male 
hyena,  and  the  wild  cow.  Its  head  is  shaped  like  that  of  a 
stag,  its  horns  like  that  of  cattle,  its  legs  like  those  of  a 
nine  year  old  camel,  its  hoofs  like  those  of  cattle,  its  tail 
like  that  of  a  gazelle;  its  neck  is  very  long,  its  hands  are 
long,  and  its  feet  are  short.  A  scholar,  Timat  by  name, 
relates  that  in  the  southern  equatorial  region  animals  of 
various  kinds  congregate  during  the  summer  around  the 
cisterns,  being  driven  there  by  heat  and  thirst;  if  an  animal 
of  a  certain  species  covers  one  of  another  species,  strange 
animals  like  the  giraffe  are  born:  the  male  hyena  mates 
with  the  female  Abyssinian  camel;  if  the  young  one  is  a 
male  and  covers  the  wild  cow,  it  will  produce  a  giraffe." 

In  another  passage  Qazwini  informs  us  that  the  giraffe 
has  knees  only  in  its  fore  legs,  but  no  knees  in  its  hind  legs; 
in  walking  it  advances  its  left  hind  leg  first  and  then  its 
right  fore  leg,  contrary  to  the  habit  of  all  other  quadrupeds 
which  advance  the  right  fore  leg  first  and  then  the  left  hind 
leg.  Among  its  natural  qualities  are  affection  and  sociable- 
ness.  As  Allah  knew  that  it  would  derive  its  sustenance 
from  trees,  He  created  its  fore  legs  longer  than  its  hind 
ones,  to  enable  it  to  graze  on  them  easily." 

This  theory  of  a  mongrel  origin  of  a  giraffe  was  merely 
a  popular  belief  suggested  by  the  peculiar  characteristics 
of  the  animal,  but  was  not  accepted  by  those  who  were 
able  to  think.  An  interesting  instance  to  this  effect  is  cited 
by  Damiri  (1344-1405)  in  his  Zoological  Dictionary  (Hayat 
al-Hayawan,  "Life  of  Animals"),  who  writes,  "al-Jahiz  is 
not  satisfied  with  this  explanation  and  states  that  it  is  the 
outcome  of  sheer  ignorance  and  emanates  only  from  people 


34  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

who  lack  the  faculty  of  discrimination;  for  God  creates 
whatever  He  pleases.  The  giraffe,  on  the  contrary,  is  a 
distinct  species  of  animal,  independent  (sui  generis)  like 
the  horse  or  the  ass.  This  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  it  is 
able  to  produce  one  like  itself,  a  fact  which  has  been  ascer- 
tained by  observation."  Masudi,  as  mentioned,  says  also 
that  many  regard  the  giraffe  as  a  particular  species,  not 
as  the  result  of  any  cross-breed. 

Dimashki,  who  wrote  a  Cosmography  about  A.D.  1325, 
commits  an  odd  error  by  localizing  the  giraffe  in  Ceylon 
(Serendib),  but  gives  a  correct  description  of  it.  "It  is  an 
animal  of  a  remarkable  shape,"  he  writes,  "it  has  a  neck 
like  a  camel,  a  skin  like  a  leopard  and  stag,  horns  like  an 
antelope,  teeth  like  a  cow,  a  head  like  a  camel,  and  a  back 
like  a  cock.  Its  fore  legs,  as  well  as  its  neck,  are  very  long; 
it  measures  ten  ells  and  more  in  height.  Its  hind  legs  are  very 
short  and  without  articulation.  Only  its  front  legs  have 
knees  as  among  other  animals,  because  the  neck  is  too 
short  in  proportion  with  its  fore  legs  when  it  grazes  on  the 
ground.  In  walking  it  sets  its  right  foot  ahead  and  its  left 
foot  behind,  in  distinction  from  other  quadrupeds.  It  has 
a  gentle  disposition,  and  is  sociable  toward  its  companions. 
It  belongs  to  the  ruminants,  and  its  ordure  is  like  that  of 
camels." 

Makrizi  (1365-1442),  in  his  History  of  the  Mamluk 
Sultans  of  Egypt,  reports  that  in  the  year  1292  a  female 
giraffe  in  the  Castle  of  the  Hill  (at  Cairo)  gave  birth  to  a 
young  one,  which  was  nursed  by  a  cow.  This  was  regarded 
as  an  auspicious  event  which  is  recorded  by  three  other 
Arab  chroniclers. 

The  Arabs,  like  most  Oriental  nations,  paid  much  at- 
tention to  dreams,  and  developed  a  pseudo-science  of  divi- 
nation based  on  dreams.  Thus  the  appearance  of  a  giraffe 
in  a  dream  is  interpreted  by  Damiri  as  follows:  "A  giraffe 
seen  in  a  dream  indicates  a  financial  calamity.  Sometimes 
it  signifies  a  respectable  or  a  beautiful  woman,  or  the  receipt 
of  strange  news  to  come  from  the  direction  from  which  the 


LEAFLET  27. 


PLATE  III. 


CHINESE  PAINTING  OF  A  GIRAFFE  OF  THE  YEAR  1485  (p.  47). 
In  Collections  of  Field  Museum.   Blackstone  Expedition  to  China,  1908. 


The  Giraffe  Among  Arabs  and  Persians  35 

animal  is  seen.  There  is,  however,  no  good  in  the  news. 
When  a  giraffe  appears  in  a  dream  to  enter  a  country  or 
town,  no  gain  is  to  be  obtained  from  it,  for  it  augurs  a 
calamity  to  your  property;  there  is  no  guaranty  for  the 
safety  of  a  friend,  a  spouse,  or  a  wife  whom  you  may  want 
to  take  through  your  homestead.  A  giraffe  in  a  dream  may 
sometimes  be  interpreted  to  mean  a  wife  who  is  not  faithful 
to  her  husband,  because  in  the  shape  of  its  back  it  differs 
from  the  riding-beasts." 

The  flesh  of  the  giraffe  is  consumed  by  the  Arab  hunt- 
ers of  Abyssinia.  The  long  tendons  of  the  legs  are  highly 
prized  by  the  Arabs  and  used  like  thread  for  sewing  leather, 
also  for  guitar  strings.  The  Arab  tribes  Fazoql  and  Ber- 
tat  make  shields  of  giraffe-hide. 

The  Arabs  were  the  most  active  dealers  in  giraffes  and 
traded  the  animals  to  the  Mediterranean  countries  as  well 
as  to  Persia,  India,  and  China.  Masudi,  in  the  tenth  cen- 
tury, informs  us  that  giraffes  were  sent  as  presents  from 
Nubia  to  the  kings  of  Persia,  as  in  later  days  they  were 
offered  to  Arab  princes,  to  the  first  Caliphs  of  the  house  of 
Abbas  and  the  governors  of  Egypt. 

When  Egypt  was  a  province  of  the  Caliphate  (A.D. 
641-868),  Nubia  was  invaded  by  the  Emir  Abdallah  Ibn 
Sad,  and  a  treaty  was  concluded  in  A.D.  652,  compelling 
the  Nubians  to  pay  an  annual  tribute  consisting  of  four 
hundred  slaves,  a  number  of  camels,  two  elephants,  and 
two  giraffes.  During  the  reign  of  the  Caliph  al-Mahdi  (A.D. 
775-785)  it  was  ordered  again  that  Nubia  be  held  respon- 
sible every  year  for  three  hundred  and  sixty  slaves  and 
one  giraffe.  This  tribute  was  paid  for  two  centuries  when 
it  was  repudiated  in  A.D.  854,  but  this  revolt  was  soon 
crushed.  In  1275,  under  the  rule  of  the  Mamluks,  the 
Sudan  was  annexed  by  Egypt,  and  three  giraffes,  three 
elephants,  panthers,  dromedaries,  and  oxen  were  stipu- 
lated among  the  annual  tribute. 

El-Aziz  (A.D.  975-996), a  Caliph  of  the  Fatimid  empire 
of  Egypt,  a  bold  hunter  and  a  fearless  general,  was  fond  of 


36  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

rare  animals,  and  had  many  strange  animals  and  birds 
brought  to  Cairo.  Female  elephants,  which  the  Nubians 
had  carefully  reserved,  were  at  length  introduced  for  breed- 
ing under  jjis  reign,  and  a  stuffed  rhinoceros  delighted  the 
crowd.  On  the  occasion  of  a  solemn  festival  celebrated  by 
the  Caliph  in  A.D.  990,  elephants  and  a  giraffe  were  con- 
ducted in  front  of  him,  and  several  giraffes  marched  before 
the  Caliph  on  other  occasions.  Gold  vases  with  figures  of 
giraffes,  elephants,  and  other  animals  were  made  for  him, 
also  gold  statuettes  of  giraffes  and  elephants. 

Beybars  (1260-77),  the  real  founder  of  the  Mamluk 
empire  in  Egypt,  a  native  of  Kipchak  (between  the  Cas- 
pian and  the  Ural  Mountains)  and  possessor  of  untold 
wealth,  sent  in  1262  giraffes,  together  with  Arab  horses, 
dromedaries,  mules,  wild  asses,  apes,  parrots,  and  many 
other  gifts  to  his  ally,  the  Khan  of  the  Golden  Horde. 

Ruy  Gonzalez  de  Clavijo,  a  Spanish  knight,  who  went 
as  ambassador  to  the  court  of  Timur  at  Samarkand  in  the 
years  1403-06,  tells  the  following  interesting  story: — 

When  the  ambassadors  arrived  in  the  city  of  Khoi  [in 
the  province  of  Azerbeijan,  Persia],  they  found  in  it  an 
ambassador,  whom  the  Sultan  of  Babylon  had  sent  to 
Timur  Beg;  who  had  with  him  as  many  as  twenty  horses 
and  fifteen  camels,  laden  with  presents,  which  the  Sultan 
of  Babylon  [probably  an  ambassador  from  Cairo]  sent  to 
Timur  Beg.  He  also  had  six  rare  birds,  and  a  beast  called 
jornufa  (giraffe),  which  creature  is  made  with  the  body  as 
large  as  that  of  a  horse,  a  very  long  neck,  and  the  fore  legs 
much  longer  than  the  hind  ones.  Its  hoofs  are  like  those 
of  a  bullock.  From  the  nail  of  the  hoof  to  the  shoulder  it 
measured  sixteen  palmos;  and  when  it  wished  to  stretch 
its  neck,  it  raised  it  so  high  that  it  was  wonderful;  and  its 
neck  was  slender,  like  that  of  a  stag.  The  hind  legs  were 
so  short,  in  comparison  with  the  fore  legs,  that  a  man  who 
had  never  seen  it  before,  might  well  believe  that  it  was 
seated,  although  it  was  standing  up;  and  the  buttocks  were 
worn,  like  those  of  a  buffalo.  The  belly  was  white,  and  the 


The  Giraffe  Among  Arabs  and  Persians  37 

body  was  of  a  golden  color,  surrounded  by  large  white 
rings.  The  face  was  like  that  of  a  stag,  and  on  the  forehead 
it  had  a  large  projection,  the  eyes  were  large  and  round, 
and  the  ears  like  those  of  a  horse.  Near  the  ears  it  had  two 
small  round  horns,  covered  with  hair,  which  looked  like 
those  of  a  very  young  stag.  The  neck  was  long,  and 
could  be  raised  so  high,  that  it  could  reach  up  to  eat  from 
the  top  of  a  very  high  wall;  and  it  could  reach  up  to  eat 
the  leaves  from  the  top  of  a  very  lofty  tree,  which  it  did 
plenteously.  To  a  man  who  had  never  seen  such  an  animal 
before,  it  was  a  wonderful  sight." 

The  giraffe  which  Clavijo  observed  and  described  had 
been  sent  to  Timur  in  the  year  1402  soon  after  the  battle 
of  Angora  by  the  Mamluk  Sultan  Faraj  of  Egypt,  who 
dispatched  two  ambassadors  to  his  court  with  rich  pre- 
sents, among  these  a  giraffe. 

In  the  History  of  Timur  Begh  or  Tamerlan  written  in 
Persian  by  Sherefeddin  Ali  of  Yezd  in  the  fifteenth  century 
the  presentation  of  a  giraffe  is  mentioned.  When  Timur 
in  1414  celebrated  the  marriage  of  his  grandchildren,  an 
envoy  from  the  sovereign  of  Egypt  arrived,  and  had  an 
audience  with  the  emperor,  bringing  presents  of  minted  sil- 
ver, precious  stones,  sumptuous  textiles,  and  among  other 
curiosities  a  giraffe,  which  the  Persian  chronicler  writes  is 
one  of  the  rarest  animals  of  the  earth,  and  nine  ostriches, 
of  the  largest  of  Africa. 

Josafa  Barbaro  and  Ambrogio  Contarini,  Venetian 
travellers,  saw  in  1471  a  live  giraffe  at  the  court  of  Persia, 
and  describe  it  in  the  old  English  translation  of  W.  Thomas 
as  follows:  "After  this  was  brought  forth  a  Giraffa,  which 
they  called  Girnaffa  [the  Italian  original  in  Ramusio  has: 
Zirapha  which  they  also  call  Zirnapha  or  Giraffa},  a  beast 
as  long  legged  as  a  great  horse,  or  rather  more;  but  the 
hinder  legs  are  half  a  foot  shorter  than  the  former,  and  is 
cloven  footed  as  an  ox,  in  maner  of  a  violet  color  mingled 
all  over  with  black  spots,  great  and  small  according  to  their 
places:  the  belly  white  somewhat  long  haired,  thin  haired 


38  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

on  the  tail  as  an  ass,  little  horns  like  a  goat,  and  the  neck 
more  than  a  pace  long:  the  tongue  a  yard  long,  violet  and 
round  as  an  eele,  with  the  which  he  grazeth  or  eateth  the 
leaves  from  the  trees  so  swiftly  that  it  is  scarcely  to  be  per- 
ceived. He  is  headed  like  a  hart,  but  more  finely,  with 
the  which  standing  on  the  ground  he  will  reach  fifteen 
foot  high.  His  breast  is  broader  than  the  horse,  but  the 
croup  narrow  like  an  ass;  he  seemeth  to  be  a  marvellous 
fair  beast,  but  not  like  to  bear  any  burden." 

The  name  surnapa  or  zurndpa  for  the  giraffe  is 
regarded  as  peculiar  to  Persian,  but  it  was  heard  and  re- 
corded by  P.  Belon  at  Cairo  toward  the  middle  of  the 
sixteenth  century  and  a  little  later  by  Moryson  at  Con- 
stantinople (cf .  pp.  67, 84) .  This  goes  to  show  that  the  word 
surnapa  was  also  employed  in  the  colloquial  Osmanli  and 
Arabic  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Yule  regards  it  as  a  form 
curiously  divergent  of  zardfa,  perhaps  nearer  the  original. 
A  popular  Persian  etymology  analyzes  the  word  into  zurnd 
("hautboy")  and  pa  ("foot"),  in  allusion  to  the  long  and 
thin  legs  of  the  giraffe  ("having  legs  shaped  like  an  haut- 
boy"),— assuredly  a  far-fetched  and  artificial  explanation. 
Possibly  this  form  may  have  originated  in  Ethiopia,  pre- 
senting a  compound  of  zur  and  Ethiopic  nabun  pointed  out 
by  Pliny.  Bochart  derives  this  nabun  from  naba  ("to  be 
elevated"). 

A  very  curious  picture  of  a  giraffe  by  a  Persian  artist 
is  reproduced  in  Plate  II.  It  is  contained  in  the  Manafi-i- 
Hayawan  ("Description  of  Animals"),  an  illustrated  Per- 
sian bestiary  of  eighty-five  folios,  completed  between  the 
years  A.D.  1295  and  1300  and  now  preserved  in  the 
Pierpont  Morgan  Library  of  New  York.  I  am  under  obli- 
gation to  Miss  Belle  Da  Costa  Greene,  director  of  the 
library,  for  kindly  placing  a  photograph  of  the  giraffe  pic- 
ture at  my  disposal.  A  brief  description  of  this  beautiful 
manuscript  has  been  given  by  C.  Anet  (Burlington  Maga- 
zine, 1913,  pp.  224,  261)  with  reproductions  of  some  fine 
selected  specimens  of  the  illustrations,  but  not  of  the  gi- 


The  Giraffe  Among  Arabs  and  Persians  39 

raffe  which  is  reproduced  here  for  the  first  time.  The  text 
is  a  Persian  translation  of  an  earlier  Arabic  manuscript 
made  at  the  command  of  Ghazan  Khan,  a  descendant  of 
the  Mongol  rulers  of  Persia.  In  the  opinion  of  C.  Anet,  the 
animals  of  this  Persian  album  are  of  the  highest  order,  con- 
vey an  idea  of  what  may  be  called  the  primitive  period  of 
Persian  painting,  and  show  a  magnificent  originality  and  a 
force  in  style  and  drawing. 

The  interesting  feature  of  the  Persian  painting  is  that 
it  represents  not  merely  a  giraffe  in  general,  but  apparently 
depicts  a  now  well-known  particular  species,  the  so-called 
reticulated  giraffe  (Fig.  1  on  p.  4),  which  inhabits  the  So- 
mali country  and  is  chestnut-colored,  covered  with  a  net- 
work of  white  lines.  The  net-work  is  treated  as  more  or  less 
regular  hexagons,  but  the  artist  has  reproduced  the  appear- 
ance of  the  characteristic  markings  of  this  species  quite 
correctly,  as  comparison  with  Fig.  1  will  show.  Head,  neck 
and  body  are  correctly  outlined  in  general;  only  the  joint- 
less  fore  legs  are  stiff.  A  collar  with  eight  small  bells  is 
hung  around  the  animal's  neck.  Each  of  its  feet  appears 
to  be  manacled  to  impede  its  free  motion.  It  is  placed  in  a 
surrounding  of  graceful  shrubbery  tenanted  by  three  birds. 
The  leaves  reach  the  animal's  head,  and  in  this  manner  the 
artist  has  apparently  intended  to  convey  a  good  idea  of  its 
extraordinary  height. 

The  picture  is  accompanied  by  the  following  text  in 
Persian  which  translated  is  as  follows:  "This  animal  is 
called  shutur-gaw-palank  [see  above,  p.  32],  for  the  reason 
that  every  part  or  member  of  it  exhibits  similarity  to  a 
corresponding  part  of  one  of  these  three  animals.  Its  hands 
(fore  legs)  and  neck  are  like  those  of  a  camel,  its  skin  is  like 
that  of  a  leopard,  its  teeth  and  hoofs  are  like  those  of  an  ox. 
It  has  long  hands  (fore  legs)  and  short  feet  (hind  legs). 
Only  its  hind  legs  are  provided  with  knees,  not  its  fore  legs. 
Its  head  and  tail  are  like  those  of  a  deer.  Its  young  ones 
are  said  to  start  eating  grass  when  they  put  their  heads  out 
of  their  mother's  womb.    They  eat  grass  until  satisfied. 


40  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

Then  the  young  ones  return  into  their  habitation  (the 
womb).  When  they  are  severed  from  the  mother,  they  will 
run  away  immediately,  for  the  mother  has  a  rough  and 
flying  tongue.  When  she  licks  the  young  one,  its  flesh  and 
skin  will  come  off,  so  that  it  will  not  approach  the  mother 
for  three  or  four  days."  The  statement  in  regard  to  the 
hind  legs  having  knees  is  a  curious  inversion  of  what  the 
Arabs  say  (above,  p.  33). 

Colonel  Roosevelt  (Life-histories  of  African  Game  Ani- 
mals) describes  the  reticulated  giraffe  as  follows:  "The 
reticulated  giraffe  is  marked  on  the  neck  by  distinct  reticu- 
lations, formed  by  the  large  rufous  squares  being  set  off 
sharply  by  narrow  lines  of  white  ground-color.  This  color 
pattern  is  so  distinctive  from  the  usual  blotched  coloration 
of  other  giraffes  that  the  race  has  been  considered  a  dis- 
tinct species  by  many  naturalists.  Some  specimens  of  the 
Uganda  giraffe,  however,  show  as  narrow  reticulations,  but 
the  ground-color  is  seldom  so  whitish  in  appearance.  The 
horns  of  the  bull  are  well  developed,  the  frontal  horn  being 
especially  large,  and  is  exceeded  in  height  only  by  the 
Uganda  race.  The  body  is  marked  by  large  squares  of  ru- 
fous separated  by  ochraceous  reticulations,  and  differs  de- 
cidely  from  the  small  size  and  broken-edged  spots  of  the 
Masai  giraffe.  The  legs  from  the  knees  and  hocks  down- 
ward nearly  as  far  as  the  fetlocks  are  reticulated  by  buffy- 
whitish  ground-color  and  tawny  blotches.  One  of  the  dis- 
tinctive color  marks  of  this  race  is  the  carrying  forward  of 
the  reticulated  pattern  of  the  neck  over  the  cheeks  and  the 
upper  throat  to  the  chin.  The  mandible  shows  distinctive 
characters,  being  low  at  the  condyles,  and  having  short 
coronoid  processes.  The  frontal  horn  is  remarkably  robust 
and  of  great  circumference,  and  is  scarcely  less  in  height 
than  in  the  Uganda  race;  but  the  skull  itself  at  this  point 
is  much  less  in  height." 


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THE  GIRAFFE  IN  CHINESE  RECORDS  AND  ART 

The  giraffe  was  not  known  to  the  ancient  Chinese, 
contrary  to  what  is  assumed  by  certain  sinologues.  This 
erroneous  conclusion  is  based  on  the  fact  that  when  live 
giraffes  were  first  transported  into  China  in  the  fifteenth 
century  under  the  Ming  dynasty,  they  were  taken  by  the 
Chinese  for  the  Kilin  (k'i-liri),  a  fabulous  creature  of  an- 
cient mythology,  and  by  way  of  reminiscence  and  poetic 
retrospection  received  the  name  k'i-lin.  This,  of  course, 
does  not  mean  that  the  ancient  native  conception  of  the 
Kilin  was  based  on  the  giraffe,  which  in  historical  times 
was  confined  to  Africa.  In  fact,  neither  the  description  nor 
the  illustrations  of  the  Kilin  bear  the  slightest  resemblance 
to  a  giraffe.  The  Kilin  is  said  to  have  the  body  of  a  deer, 
the  tail  of  an  ox,  a  single  horn,  and  to  be  covered  with 
fish-scales.  Its  horn  is  covered  with  flesh,  indicating  that 
while  able  for  war,  it  covets  peace.  It  does  not  tread  on 
any  living  thing,  not  even  on  living  grass.  It  symbolizes 
gentleness,  goodness,  and  benevolence.  It  is  said  to  have 
appeared  just  previous  to  the  death  of  Confucius,  and  it 
will  appear  whenever  a  benevolent  sovereign  rules;  it  was 
a  mythical  animal  of  good  omen.  The  Kilin  has  a  horn 
with  a  fleshy  basis  or  fleshy  horns,  while  the  giraffe  has  two 
bony  excrescences  on  its  head  which  merely  resemble  horns, 
but  are  not.  De  Groot  (see  note  on  p.  96)  insists  on  the 
good  and  gentle  disposition  being  ascribed  to  either  crea- 
ture, but  it  is  obvious  that  a  zoological  identification  cannot 
be  based  on  alleged  psychological  traits;  many  deer,  sheep, 
and  other  animals  may  likewise  be  characterized  in  this 
manner.  It  is  singular  that  De  Groot  remained  entirely 
ignorant  of  the  importations  of  giraffes  into  China  and  of 
what  Chinese  authors  know  about  the  subject. 

It  is  clear  that  the  characteristic  features  of  the  giraffe 
which  impress  every  casual  observer — the  extraordinary 
height,  the  long  neck,  the  proportion  of  fore  and  hind  legs — 

41 


42  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

are  not  found  in  the  Chinese  descriptions  of  the  Kilin  and 
that  several  traits  of  the  latter  do  not  agree  with  the  giraffe. 
Thus,  the  voice  of  the  Kilin  resembles  the  sound  of  a  bell, 
and  it  walks  with  regular  steps.  The  giraffe,  however,  has 
no  voice  at  all.  "It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  giraffes  are 
absolutely  mute,  and  even  in  their  death-agonies  never 
utter  a  sound"  (Hutchinson's  Animals  of  All  Countries). 
Says  G.  Renshaw,  "Giraffes  are  well  hnown  to  be  silent 
animals.  I  once  heard  the  Southern  giraffe  still  living  in 
the  London  Zoo  give  a  kind  of  coughing  sneeze — the  only 
recorded  occasion,  I  believe,  of  these  animals  ever  having 
been  known  to  make  any  noise  at  all!  It  was,  however, 
probably  caused  by  some  irritant  in  the  nasal  passage,  and 
cannot  be  called  a  vocal  sound." 

The  only  points  of  resemblance  made  by  the  Chinese 
between  the  Kilin  and  the  giraffe  are  their  bodies  being 
shaped  like  a  deer,  their  tails  being  like  that  of  an  ox,  and 
their  gentle  disposition.  This  identification,  it  should  be 
borne  in  mind,  was  established  as  recently  as  the  fifteenth 
century  when  the  first  live  giraffes  arrived  in  China. 

The  Su  po  wu  chi,  a  book  compiled  by  Li  Shi  about 
the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century,  apparently  contains  one 
of  the  earliest  Chinese  literary  allusions  to  the  giraffe. 
"The  country  Po-pa-li  [Berbera,  on  the  Somali  coast  of  the 
Gulf  of  Aden]  harbors  a  strange  animal  called  camel-ox  (t'o 
niu).  Its  skin  is  like  that  of  a  leopard,  its  hoof  is  similar  to 
that  of  an  ox,  but  the  animal  is  devoid  of  a  hump.  Its 
neck  is  nine  feet  long,  and  its  body  is  over  ten  feet  high." 

The  designation  "camel-ox"  corresponds  exactly  to  a 
Persian  designation  of  the  giraffe,  ushtur-gaw  (ushlur, 
"camel" ;  gaw,  "ox,  cow"),  mentioned  as  early  as  the  tenth 
century  by  the  Arabic  writer  Masudi.  It  may  hence  be 
inferred  that  the  information  received  in  regard  to  the  ani- 
mal had  come  to  China  from  Persia. 

The  second  reference  to  the  giraffe  is  made  by  Chao 
Ju-kwa  in  his  work  Chufan  chi,  written  in  A.D.  1225.  This 
author  was  collector  of  customs  in  the  port  of  Ts'uan-chou 


The  Giraffe  in  Chinese  Records  and  Art  43 

fu  in  the  province  of  Fu-kien,  where  he  came  in  close  con- 
tact with  Arabian  merchants  and  representatives  of  other 
foreign  nations  who  then  entertained  a  lucrative  commerce 
with  China.  From  oral  information  given  him  by  foreign 
traders  and  from  earlier  Chinese  sources  he  compiled  his 
brief  book.  In  his  notes  on  the  Berbera  or  Somali  coast  of 
East  Africa  he  mentions  as  a  native  of  that  country  "a 
wild  animal  called  tsu-la,  which  resembles  a  camel  in  shape, 
an  ox  in  size,  and  is  yellow  of  color.  Its  fore  legs  are  five 
feet  long,  while  its  hind  feet  are  only  three  feet  in  length. 
Its  head  is  high  and  looks  upward.  Its  skin  is  an  inch 
thick."  The  word  tsu-la  used  in  the  Chinese  text  is  not 
Chinese,  but  is  of  Arabic  origin;  it  is  intended  to  reproduce 
zurdfa,  the  Arabic  term  for  the  giraffe. 

African  animals  were  transported  to  China  as  early 
as  the  thirteenth  century  under  the  Yuan  or  Mongol  dy- 
nasty. We  are  informed,  for  instance,  in  the  Annals  of 
this  dynasty  that  in  the  year  1287  an  envoy  from  Mabar 
(Malabar,  on  the  south-west  coast  of  India)  presented  the 
emporer  with  "a  strange  animal  resembling  a  mule,  but 
larger  and  covered  with  hair  mottled  black  and  white;  it 
was  called  a-t'a-pi."  Judging  from  this  name,  the  beast 
appears  to  be  identical  with  the  topi,  the  Swahili  name  for 
the  Topi  damaliscus  {Damaliscus  jimila),  a  kind  of  ante- 
lope peculiar  to  East  Africa,  also  called  bastard  hartebeest 
(see,  further,  note  on  p.  96). 

In  A.D.  1289  the  Chinese  emperor  was  presented  with 
two  zebras  from  Mabar,  and  in  the  following  year  another  en- 
voy arrived  from  the  same  country  and  offered  two  piebald 
oxen,  a  buffalo,  and  a  tiger-cat.  The  giraffe,  as  far  as  I 
know,  is  not  mentioned  in  the  Yuan  Annals,  although  there 
is  no  reason  why  it  should  not  have  come  along  with  topi 
and  zebra.  Malabar,  at  that  time,  was  in  close  commercial 
relations  with  the  ports  of  southern  Arabia,  and  it  was  the 
Arabs  who  brought  these  live  animals  from  the  Somali 
coast  to  southern  Arabia  and  thence  transhipped  them  to 
India. 


44  Field  Museum  or  Natural  History 

There  are  in  the  Chinese  Annals  several  records  of 
giraffes  being  sent  alive  as  gifts  to  the  Chinese  emperors 
during  the  fifteenth  century.  In  that  period  a  new  impetus 
was  given  to  the  exploration  of  the  countries  of  the  Indian 
Ocean  through  the  exploits  of  Cheng  Ho,  eunuch  and  navi- 
gator. In  A.D.  1408  and  1412  he  conducted,  with  a  fleet  of 
sixty-two  ships,  naval  expeditions  to  the  realms  of  south- 
eastern Asia,  advancing  as  far  as  Ceylon,  and  inducing 
many  states  to  send  envoys  back  with  him  to  his  native 
country.  In  1415  and  again  in  1421  he  returned  with  the 
foreign  envoys  to  their  countries  in  order  to  open  trading 
relations  with  them.  In  1424  he  was  sent  to  Sumatra. 
In  1425,  as  no  envoys  had  come  to  Peking,  he  and  his  old 
lieutenant,  Wang  King-hung,  visited  seventeen  countries, 
including  Hormuz  in  the  Persian  Gulf.  This  was  at  a  time 
when  no  European  sail  had  yet  been  sighted  on  the  Indian 
Ocean. 

In  A.D.  1414  (the  twelfth  year  of  the  period  Yung-lo, 
under  the  emperor  Ch'eng  Tsu),  Saifud-din,  king  of  Ben- 
gal, sent  envoys  to  China  with  an  offering  of  giraffes  and 
famous  horses.  The  Board  of  Rites  asked  permission  of 
the  emperor  to  present  an  address  of  congratulation.  As 
the  giraffe  was  termed  k'i-lin,  and  the  fabulous  k'i-lin  of 
antiquity  was  reputed  to  appear  only  at  the  time  of  a  vir- 
tuous ruler,  the  giraffe  was  obviously  regarded  as  an  auspi- 
cious omen,  and  the  proposed  address  of  congratulation 
was  chiefly  intended  as  a  flattery  to  the  sovereign,  who  had 
sense  enough  to  see  through  the  game  and  denied  the 
request. 

In  A.D.  1415  the  country  Ma-lin  (Malindi  in  British 
East  Africa)  offered  a  giraffe  to  the  emperor.  On  this  oc- 
casion the  President  of  the  Board  of  Rites,  Lu  Chen,  made 
a  report  to  the  throne,  requesting  that  the  officials  should 
offer  congratulations  to  the  emperor;  the  request,  however, 
was  denied  again. 

In  the  year  1421  the  chamberlain  Chou  travelled  for 
the  purpose  of  purchasing  giraffes,  lions,  and  other  rare 


The  Giraffe  in  Chinese  Records  and  Art  45 

animals,  rather  to  satisfy  his  own  vanity  than  to  make  a 
contribution  to  knowledge. 

In  the  year  1422  an  imperial  envoy,  the  eunuch  Li, 
was  sent  to  Aden  with  a  letter  and  presents  to  the  king. 
On  his  arrival  he  was  honorably  received,  and  on  landing 
was  met  by  the  king  and  conducted  by  him  to  his  palace. 
During  the  sojourn  of  the  embassy,  the  people  who  had 
rarities  were  permitted  to  offer  them  for  sale.  Cat's-eyes 
of  extraordinary  size,  rubies,  and  other  precious  stones, 
large  branches  of  coral,  amber,  and  attar  of  roses  were 
among  the  articles  purchased.  Giraffes,  lions,  zebras,  leo- 
pards, ostriches,  and  white  pigeons  were  also  offered  for 
sale.  An  account  of  this  expedition  was  written  by  Ma 
Huan,  a  Chinese  Mohammedan  familiar  with  the  Arabic 
language.  He  was  attached  to  the  suite  of  Cheng  Ho  on 
his  cruise  in  the  Indian  Ocean,  and  published  on  his  return 
(between  1425  and  1432)  an  interesting  geographical  work 
(  Ying  yai  sheng  Ian)  in  which  the  twenty  countries  visited 
by  the  expedition  are  described.  With  reference  to  Aden 
he  remarks  that  the  giraffe  is  found  there;  it  was,  of  course, 
not  a  native  of  Aden,  either  at  that  time  or  at  present,  but 
was  transported  there  by  the  Arabs  from  the  east  coast  of 
Africa.  Ma  Huan  describes  the  animal  "as  having  fore 
legs  nine  feet  high  and  hind  legs  about  six  feet;  its  head  is 
raised,  and  its  neck  is  sixteen  feet  long  [this,  in  fact,  is  the 
total  height  of  the  animal  from  head  to  foot];  owing  to  its 
fore  quarters  being  high  and  its  hind  quarters  low  it  cannot 
be  ridden;  it  has  two  short,  fleshy  horns  close  to  its  ears;  its 
tail  is  like  that  of  a  cow,  and  its  body  like  that  of  a  deer;  its 
hoof  is  divided  into  three  sections;  its  mouth  is  wide  and 
flat,  and  it  feeds  on  millet,  beans,  and  flour  cakes."  The 
last  remark  shows  that  the  question  is  of  giraffes  kept  in 
captivity  and  receiving  cereal  food  from  the  hands  of  men. 
It  appears  that  a  regular  trade  was  carried  on  by  the  Arabs 
in  these  animals  who  aroused  so  much  curiosity  and  that 
Aden  was  the  centre  of  this  commercial  activity. 


46  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

In  the  year  1430  Cheng  Ho  dispatched  one  of  his  com- 
panions to  Calicut  in  southern  India.  Having  heard  that  a 
trading  vessel  was  to  sail  from  that  port  to  Arabia,  he  com- 
manded this  officer  to  embark  and  take  Chinese  goods  as 
presents  for  the  native  ruler  along.  The  voyage  lasted  a 
year.  The  Chinese  envoy  purchased  there  fine  pearls, 
precious  stones,  a  giraffe  (k'i-liri),  a  lion,  and  an  ostrich. 

In  1431  giraffes  were  sent  as  tribute  by  embassies  from 
"the  countries  of  the  Southern  Sea." 

Fei  Sin,  who  in  1436  wrote  the  Sing  ch'a  sheng  Ian,  an 
account  of  four  voyages  made  in  the  Indian  Ocean  by 
imperial  envoys  during  the  first  quarter  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  mentions  giraffes  under  the  name  tsu-la-fa  (Arabic 
zurdfa)  among  the  natural  products  of  Arabia,  particularly 
of  Zufar  on  the  south  coast  of  the  peninsula.  He  observes 
that  "the  ruler  of  the  country  and  his  ministers  are  very 
grateful  to  the  Heavenly  Dynasty  [that  is,  China],  and 
that  their  missions  are  constantly  bringing  presents  of  lions 
and  giraffes  to  offer  as  tribute." 

A  noteworthy  point  is  that  the  giraffes  were  not  sent 
to  China  over  the  land  route,  as  the  ostriches,  but  were 
conveyed  in  ships  over  the  maritime  route  from  Aden  by 
way  of  India.  It  is  a  pity  that  we  have  no  detailed  story 
as  to  how  the  animals  were  transported,  for  their  trans- 
portation is  a  difficult  problem  even  at  the  present  time. 
Giraffes  are  very  nervous  and  hence  very  awkward  animals 
to  transport,  as  they  are  liable  to  break  their  necks  by  sud- 
denly twisting  about  in  their  travelling  boxes.  It  is  still 
more  deplorable  that  the  Chinese  have  not  preserved  a 
record  of  how  the  animals  were  cared  for  in  their  country, 
how  long  they  lived,  etc. 

From  an  account  in  the  Wu  tsa  tsu,  written  in  1610,  it 
appears  that  under  the  reign  of  Ch'eng  Tsu  (1403-25)  a 
painter  was  directed  to  make  a  sketch  of  a  Kilin  which  had 
been  captured;  the  artist's  picture  showed  the  animal's 
body  shaped  like  that  of  a  deer,  but  its  neck  was  very  long, 
conveying  the  impression  that  it  was  three  to  four  feet  in 


a  2 


i  J 

S3 


2  t* 


i-  3 


55 

5  < 


The  Giraffe  in  Chinese  Records  and  Art  47 

length.  As  at  that  time  giraffes  were  brought  to  China,  it 
is  possible  that  they  served  as  models  for  this  picture  of  a 
Kilin. 

Fig.  13  is  a  woodcut  reproduced,  after  A.  C.  Moule, 
from  a  Chinese  book,  entitled  "Pictures  of  Birds  and  Beasts 
of  Foreign  Lands"  (J  yii  k'in  shou  t'u),  a  copy  of  which  is 
preserved  in  the  University  Library  of  Cambridge  and 
which  may  have  originated  about  or  after  1420.  The  ani- 
mal is  designated  in  the  engraving  as  k'i-lin;  it  is  equipped 
with  a  headstall,  and  is  guided  by  a  bare-headed  foreigner 
clad  only  with  a  skirt.  There  is  a  little  stump  between  the 
animal's  ears;  the  spots  are  represented  by  short  lines.  On 


Fig.  13. 

Giraffe  Guided  by  a  Mohammedan. 

Drawing  from  a  Chinese  Book  of  about  1420. 

After  A.  C.  Moule. 

the  whole  the  artist  seems  to  have  endeavored  to  reproduce 
the  general  appearance  of  a  deer;  the  neck  is  comparatively 
too  short,  the  body  is  not  correctly  outlined,  but  the  tail  is 
fairly  correct. 

A  Chinese  painting  representing  a  giraffe  is  repro- 
duced in  Plate  III.  It  was  obtained  by  me  at  Si-an  fu  in 
1908.  It  is  a  long  paper  scroll  dyed  a  deep  black  from 
which  the  picture,  of  circular  shape  (eleven  inches  in  di- 
ameter) is  set  off  in  a  light  brown  color.  The  giraffe  is 
surprisingly  well  done,  the  shape  of  the  head  with  two 
horns  and  the  outlines  of  the  body  are  well  caught,  while 


48  Field  Museum  of  Natural,  History 

no  attempt  is  made  at  delineating  the  markings  of  the  skin. 
The  animal  is  shown  freely  in  nature,  surrounded  by  trees 
and  brushwork, — a  unique  conception  which,  as  far  as  I 
know,  does  not  occur  elsewhere. 

The  picture  is  inscribed  at  the  top  with  a  stanza  of 
four  lines,  the  characters  being  neatly  written  in  gold  ink. 
The  poem  is  characterized  as  an  "imperial  composition" 
(yu  ch'i).  It  reads, — 

With  the  tail  of  an  ox  and  the  body  of  a  deer,  the  animal  is  seen 

walking  through  the  wilderness. 
Auspicious  clouds  are  facing  the  sun,  and  the  prosperity  of  the 

government  is  clearly  in  evidence. 
The  people  will  meet  with  great  success,  and  there  will  be  a 

year  of  abundant  harvest. 
There  will  be  plenty  of  food,  and  with  songs  they  will  praise  the 

great  peace. 

Although  the  animal  is  not  named,  it  results  from  the 
characteristics  ("tail  of  an  ox  and  body  of  a  deer")  that 
the  Kilin  is  implicitly  understood.  Like  the  Kilin,  the  gi- 
raffe is  considered  an  auspicious  omen,  presaging  a  pros- 
perous government,  a  good  harvest,  abundance  of  victuals 
for  all,  and  a  peaceful  reign.  The  poem,  on  its  left  side,  is 
provided  with  a  date  which  corresponds  to  our  year  1485, 
and  this  may  also  be  the  date  of  the  picture;  or  the  latter 
may  be  somewhat  earlier,  and  the  poem  was  added  to  it  in 
1485;  at  any  rate,  the  picture  is  a  production  of  the  fif- 
teenth century,  the  age  of  the  importation  of  giraffes. 

The  Chinese  painting  of  a  giraffe,  reproduced  in  Plate 
IV,  is  of  an  entirely  different  character.  It  was  obtained 
in  China  by  Mr.  A.  W.  Bahr,  who  kindly  placed  it  at  my 
disposal.  The  picture  is  painted  on  old  silk,  the  surface 
of  which  is  much  disintegrated,  measuring  54  x  33^  inches. 
It  is  not  signed  or  sealed,  or  in  any  way  inscribed.  The 
giraffe  is  of  imposing  size,  and  the  unknown  Chinese  artist 
has  with  remarkable  effect  brought  out  its  height  in  com- 
parison with  its  two  Arab  guides.  The  animal  is  provided 
with  a  green  headstall,  and  the  neck  is  adorned  with  a  tas- 
sel of  horse-hair  dyed  red  and  surmounted  by  metal-work. 
This  tassel  is  of  Chinese  make,  and  was  attached  to  the 


The  Giraffe  in  Chinese  Records  and  Art  49 

animal  on  its  arrival  in  China.  Horses  and  mules  are  still 
decorated  with  such  tassels.  The  almost  regular  designs  of 
hexagons  covering  the  body  allow  the  inference  that  this 
animal  is  intended  to  represent  the  reticulated  species 
which  has  been  described  above  with  reference  to  a  Persian 
miniature  (p.  39).  The  two  turbaned  and  bearded  Arabs 
are  clad  in  long,  red,  girdled  gowns  and  high  boots,  and  are 
types  full  of  character.  Each  holds  the  end  of  a  halter  in 
both  his  hands.  This  picture  is  doubtless  a  production  of 
the  Ming  period,  and  very  probably  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury. 

C.  R.  Eastman,  who  in  1917  published  this  painting  in 
Nature,  advanced  the  theory  that  it  had  been  copied  in 
China  from  models  brought  over  from  Persia,  as  in  his 
judgment  it  bears  a  striking  resemblance  to  the  Persian 
miniature  in  Plate  II.  This  entire  speculation  decidedly 
misses  the  mark.  The  two  pictures,  as  every  one  may  con- 
vince himself  from  the  reproductions  here  published,  have 
but  one  point  in  common, — the  design  of  hexagons  on  the 
skins  of  the  animals.  This  is  simply  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  Persian  and  Chinese  artists  independently  endeavored 
to  sketch  the  same  species,  a  reticulated  giraffe.  For  the 
rest,  their  productions  in  style,  composition,  and  spirit  are 
fundamentally  different;  the  pose  and  the  equipment  of  the 
animals  are  wholly  at  variance.  Mr.  Eastman  is  ignorant 
of  the  history  of  the  giraffe  in  Persia  and  China,  and  knows 
nothing  of  the  numerous  importations  of  live  giraffes  into 
both  countries.  He  invents  a  comfortable  theory  to  suit 
his  convenience,  and  insinuates  to  Chinese  painters  a  work- 
ing method  which  they  never  followed.  Nothing  is  known 
of  Persian  animal  paintings  imported  into  China  and  cop- 
ied there,  but  we  know  as  a  fact  that  the  Chinese  were 
always  fond  of  exotic  animals  and  that  their  artists  were 
in  the  habit  of  portraying  them,  either  voluntarily  or  by 
imperial  command. 

It  was  customary  with  the  Chinese  emperors  to  have 
unusual  animals  which  were  presented  by  foreign  poten- 


50  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

tates  painted  or  even  sculptured  by  their  court  artists.  To 
cite  only  two  specific  instances  which  occurred  during  the 
Ming  period, — a  black  horse  with  a  white  forehead  and 
white  feet  was  offered  to  the  emperor  in  1439  by  Ulug  Beg 
Mirza,  chief  of  Samarkand  and  eldest  son  of  Shah  Rukh, 
son  of  Timur.  The  emperor  ordered  a  picture  of  it  to  be 
made.  In  1490  an  envoy  from  Samarkand,  together  with 
an  embassy  from  Turf  an,  arrived  to  present  a  lion  and  a 
karakal.  When  the  envoys  had  reached  the  province  of 
Kan-su,  pictures  were  taken  of  these  beasts  and  forwarded 
by  a  courier  to  the  emperor.  The  ministers  proposed  to 
decline  these  presents,  but  the  emperor  overruled  them  and 
accepted  the  gift. 

For  this  reason  I  am  convinced  also  that  the  Chinese 
paintings  of  giraffes  of  the  fifteenth  century  were  done 
from  nature,  from  study  of  the  live  animals  sent  as  gifts  to 
the  imperial  court.  The  situation  then  was  exactly  the 
same  in  China  as  in  contemporaneous  Italy.  It  is  indeed 
a  curious  coincidence  that  in  the  fifteenth  century  also  live 
giraffes  found  their  way  into  Italy  and  engaged  the  atten- 
tion of  Italian  artists,  as  is  set  forth  in  the  chapter 
"The  Giraffe  in  the  Age  of  the  Renaissance."  Here  again 
there  is  no  mysterious  coeval  connection  between  Chinese 
and  Italian  or  between  Italian  and  Persian  artists.  The  art 
of  all  countries  creates  new  forms  at  all  times  from  the  ob- 
servation of  nature.  The  activity  of  the  Arabs  supplied 
giraffes  to  Europe  as  well  as  to  Persia,  India,  and  China, 
but  the  interesting  fact  remains  that  the  fifteenth  century 
was  the  great  age  of  the  giraffe  both  in  the  East  and  West. 

It  seems  that  the  importations  of  giraffes  into  China 
were  restricted  just  to  the  fifteenth  century  and  ceased 
thereafter.  During  the  sixteenth  century  and  under  the 
Manchu  dynasty  we  hear  nothing  of  giraffes  being  intro- 
duced into  the  country.  Through  a  curious  force  of  cir- 
cumstances the  animal  was  brought  again  to  the  attention 
of  the  Chinese  in  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth 
century. 


The  Giraffe  in  Chinese  Records  and  Art  51 

This  revival  is  due  to  the  early  Jesuit  missionaries 
who  endeavored  to  acquaint  their  new  disciples  with  the 
methods  and  results  of  European  science  and  who  success- 
fully diffused  among  them  knowledge  of  geography,  chrono- 
logy, mathematics,  physics,  astronomy,  and  technology. 
In  the  course  of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries 
these  indefatigable  workers  produced  a  remarkable  litera- 
ture both  in  Chinese  and  Manchu,  which  exerted  no  small 
degree  of  influence  on  the  thought  of  Chinese  scholarship. 
He  who  is  eager  to  understand  the  intellectual  develop- 
ment of  Chinese  society  during  that  epoch  cannot  afford 
to  neglect  the  literary  efforts  of  those  humble  and  enter- 
prising pioneers.  One  of  them,  Ferdinand  Verbiest  (1623- 
88),  who  came  to  China  in  1659,  published  about  1683  a 
small  geographical  work  in  Chinese,  entitled  K'un  yii  t'u 
shwo,  which  among  other  matters  also  contains  illustrations 
with  brief  descriptions  of  some  foreign  animals.  Eleven  of 
these  pictures  have  been  reproduced  in  the  great  cyclopae- 
dia T'u  shu  tsi  ch'eng,  published  in  1726,  and  this  series 
includes  the  giraffe  (Fig.  14).  The  accompanying  text  runs 
thus:  "West  of  Libya  there  is  the  country  Abyssinia 
which  produces  an  animal  called  u-na-si-yo.  Its  head  is 
shaped  like  that  of  a  horse;  its  fore  feet  are  as  long  as  those 
of  a  big  horse,  while  its  hind  feet  are  short.  Its  neck  is 
long;  from  the  hoofs  of  the  fore  feet  up  to  the  head  it  is 
over  twenty-five  feet  in  height.  Its  skin  is  variegated  in 
color.  It  is  fed  on  hay  and  grass,  and  is  shown  in  gardens 
to  people  as  a  curiosity.  It  turns  round  to  show  off  its 
beauty  to  spectators,  as  though  enjoying  being  looked  at." 

The  source  of  Verbiest's  illustration  is  Edward  Top- 
sell's  "Historie  of  Foure-footed  Beastes"  (London,  1607). 
Topsell's  picture  of  the  giraffe  reproduced  in  Fig.  18  (p.  68), 
as  stated  by  himself,  was  drawn  by  Melchior  Luorigus  at 
Constantinople  in  the  year  of  salvation  1559,  and  was  after- 
wards sent  to  Germany,  where  it  was  imprinted  at  Nurem- 
berg. A  comparison  of  the  two  figures  will  show  their  close 
interrelation:  the  animal  in  outline  and  pose  is  identical 


Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 


Fig.  14. 

Chinese  Woodcut  of  Giraffe  Supplied  by  Ferdinand  Verbioet. 

From  T'u  shu  tsi  ch'eng. 


The  Giraffe  in  Chinese  Records  and  Art  53 

in  both,  the  Arab's  head-dress  has  been  changed  into  a 
cockade  of  two  feathers  in  the  Chinese  engraving,  and  a 
landscape  of  Chinese  style  has  been  added  to  the  latter. 
Verbiest  has  also  drawn  on  Topsell's  description.  "When 
any  come  to  see  them,  they  willingly  and  of  their  own 
accorde,  turne  themselves  round  as  it  were  of  purpose  to 
shewe  their  soft  haires,  and  beautifull  coulour,  being  as  it 
were  proud  to  ravish  the  eies  of  the  beholders."  This  is 
the  idea  expressed  by  Verbiest  in  his  concluding  sentence. 
A  similar  observation  was  made  by  Vincent  de  Beauvais 
(p.  71). 

Topsell's  influence  is  also  visible  in  Verbiest's  nomen- 
clature, for  the  curious  word  u-na-si-yo  coined  by  him  is 
not  traceable  to  any  African  or  Oriental  language.  Top- 
sell,  enumerating  the  Arabic,  Chaldaean,  Persian,  Greek 
and  Latin  names  of  the  animal,  says  that  Albertus  adds  the 
names  Oraflus  (hence  the  older  French  orafle)  and  Orasius 
(cf.  p.  72).  The  latter  was  chosen  by  Verbiest  and  ana- 
lyzed into  o-ra-si-o;  as  there  is  no  equivalent  for  ra  in 
Chinese,  he  substituted  the  syllable  na,  and  may  have  felt 
that  he  was  the  more  justified  in  so  doing,  as  Topsell  offers 
an  alleged  Chaldaean  word  Ana. 

The  foreign  word  u-na-si-yo,  introduced  by  Verbiest 
and  only  used  by  him,  has  never  been  adopted  by  the  Chin- 
ese; but  it  is  noteworthy  that  the  Manchu  coined  from  it  a 
word  for  giraffe  in  the  form  unasu.  This  is  contained  in  the 
Ts'ing  wen  pu  hui,  a  Manchu-Chinese  dictionary  compiled 
in  1786.  The  Manchu  word  unasu  is  here  explained  by  a 
Chinese  gloss  "u-na-si-yo,  a  strange  animal  from  the 
country  Ya-bi-si  (Abyssinia),"  briefly  characterized  with 
the  words  of  Verbiest.  Verbiest's  term  u-na-si-yo  has 
nothing  to  do  with  the  onager,  the  wild  ass  of  Central  Asia, 
as  has  been  suggested  by  Sakharof  and  Moule. 

To  cite  another  example  of  how  Verbiest  made  use  of 
Topsell's  data, — he  gives  the  illustration  of  a  beaver,  an 
animal  unknown  in  China,  under  the  name  pan-ti,  which 
for  a  long  time  was  a  puzzle  to  me,  as  it  defies  identification 


64  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

with  any  name  for  the  beaver  in  Europe  and  elsewhere. 
Verbiest's  picture  is  copied  again  from  Topsell,  who  gives 
Cants  ponticus  as  the  beaver's  Latin  name,  so  that  the 
Chinese  rendering  pan-ti  is  doubtless  based  on  ponticus. 
Verbiest's  hu-lo  transcribes  Latin  gulo,  the  glutton;  his 
animal  su,  which  occurs  in  Chile  in  South  America,  is  the 
Opossum  described  by  Topsell  (p.  660)  as  a  "wild  beast  in 
the  new-found  world  called  Su."  This  native  American 
name,  together  with  the  figure  of  the  animal,  was  derived 
by  him  from  A.  Thevet's  account  of  Brazil. 

The  Japanese  call  the  giraffe  hyoda  ("panther-camel") 
or  kirin  (corresponding  to  Chinese  k'i-liri). 


LEAFLET  27. 


PLATE  VI. 


GIRAFFE  ON  A  PORTUGUESE  COTTON  PRINT,    EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  (p.  87). 
In  Art  Institute,  Chicago. 


THE  GIRAFFE  IN  INDIA 

It  has  been  pointed  out  in  the  preceding  chapter  that, 
according  to  Chinese  records,  giraffes  were  sent  to  China 
in  A.D.  1414  by  Saifud-din,  king  of  Bengal,  and  that  other 
African  animals  like  topi  and  zebra  were  shipped  to  China 
from  the  kingdom  of  Malabar  as  early  as  the  thirteenth 
century.  It  is  therefore  credible  that,  as  H.  Schiltberger 
reports  about  1430,  giraffes  were  found  at  Delhi.  He  calls 
them  surnasa  (for  surnafa)  and  describes  them  as  being 
"like  a  stag,  but  a  tall  animal  with  a  long  neck,  four  fa- 
thoms in  length  or  longer."  These  African  animals  were 
transported  to  India  by  Arabs  from  the  Somali  coast  by 
way  of  the  ports  of  southern  Arabia. 

India  has  played  a  singular  role  in  the  historical  rec- 
ords of  the  giraffe.  To  many  ancient  and  mediaeval  writers 
India  was  a  rather  vague  notion,  and  was  correlated  with 
Ethiopia  or  confounded  with  other  countries.  Several 
ancient  authors,  as  mentioned  (p.  58),  designated  India  as 
the  home  of  the  giraffe.  During  the  middle  ages  a  distinc- 
tion was  made  between  India  the  Greater  and  India  the 
Lesser  (India  maior  et  minor),  but  there  was  little  concord 
as  to  their  identity  and  boundaries,  and  Abyssinia  was 
termed  Middle  India.  According  to  a  Byzantine  chronicle, 
the  emperor  Anastasius  in  A.D.  439  received  as  a  gift  from 
India  an  elephant  and  two  animals  called  "cameloparda- 
las."  There  is  no  doubt  that  "India"  in  this  case  must  be 
equalized  with  Ethiopia.  Cassianus  Bassus,  author  of  a 
work  on  agriculture  (Geoponica,  seventh  century  A.D.), 
narrates  that  he  saw  at  Antiochia  a  camelopard  which  he 
says  had  been  brought  from  India.  "India,"  again,  must 
be  understood  here  as  Ethiopia. 

Andre"  Thevet  (Cosmographie  universelle,  Vol.  I,  fol. 
388b,  1575)  was  the  champion  of  the  strange  idea  that  the 
habitat  of  the  giraffe  was  India.  He  even  specifies  it  "in 
the  high  mountains  of  Cangipu,  Plumaticq  and  Caragan 

55 


56  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

which  are  in  interior  India  beyond  the  river  Ganges,  some 
five  degrees  on  this  side  of  the  tropic  of  the  cancer."  From 
there  and  several  other  localities  giraffes  were  brought  to  an 
island  which  he  calls  Isle  Amiadine  or  Anch^dine,  and 
where  they  were  kept  by  the  lords  of  the  country  for  their 
pleasure.  The  Turks  found  six  giraffes  there,  seized  them 
and  forcibly  loaded  them  on  their  vessels;  two  of  the  ani- 
mals died  during  the  voyage,  two  others  died  when  embarked 
at  Aden,  the  two  survivors  landed  safely  at  Cairo,  where 
Thevet  saw  them  during  his  three  months'  stay  (compare 
below,  p.  83).  There  is  no  doubt  that  owing  to  his  igno- 
rance of  Arabic  Thevet  misunderstood  his  informants  or 
interpreters,  who  he  says  were  "Abyssinians  and  other 
Africans."  He  denies  expressly  the  occurrence  of  the  giraffe 
in  Ethiopia,  adding  that  if  it  is  found  there  at  the  courts 
of  the  kings  and  princes,  it  was  transported  into  that 
country  from  India. 

Edward  Topsell,  in  his  "Historie  of  Foure-footed 
Beastes"  (1607),  defines  the  distribution  of  the  giraffe  thus: 
"These  beastes  are  plentifull  in  Ethiopia,  India,  and  the 
Georgian  region,  which  was  once  called  Media.  Likewise 
in  the  province  of  Abasia  in  India,  it  is  called  Surnosa,  and 
in  Abasia  Surnappa."  Abasia,  as  will  be  seen  (p.  74),  is 
Marco  Polo's  designation  of  Abyssinia,  and  as  Abyssinia 
was  comprised  under  the  term  Middle  India,  the  confusion 
with  India  proper  arose  in  Topsell's  mind,  or  was  already 
contained  in  the  source  which  he  may  have  consulted. 

F.  Bernier,  who  travelled  in  the  Mogul  empire  dur- 
ing the  years  1656-68,  reports  that  he  saw  at  the  court  of 
the  emperor  Aureng-Zeb  the  skin  of  a  zebra  which  ambas- 
sadors from  the  king  of  Ethiopia  had  brought  along.  The 
zebra  was  alive  when  it  left  Africa,  but  died  during  the 
voyage,  and  the  ambassadors  had  sense  enough  to  preserve 
its  skin.  Bernier  describes  it  as  "a  small  species  of  mule: 
no  tiger  is  so  beautifully  marked,  and  no  striped  silken 
stuff  is  more  finely  and  variously  streaked."  In  view 
of  the  fact  that  India  maintained  considerable    r  ^ 


The  Giraffe  in  India  57 

with  Guendar  or  Gondar,  formerly  capital  of  the  Amharic 
kingdom  of  Abyssinia,  it  is  quite  possible  that  giraffes  also 
came  from  there  directly  to  India. 


THE  GIRAFFE  AMONG  THE  ANCIENTS 

The  giraffe,  being  a  strictly  African  animal,  remained 
unknown  to  the  civilizations  of  Western  Asia  in  ancient 
times.  In  the  period  of  the  independence  of  Hellas  the 
Greeks  were  not  acquainted  with  it.  Aristotle,  the  only- 
great  zoologist  of  antiquity,  does  not  describe  it.  It  has 
been  supposed  that  the  hippardion  or  pardion  mentioned 
by  Aristotle  (Historia  animalium  II,  1)  as  having  "a  thin 
mane  extending  from  the  head  to  the  withers/'without 
further  particulars,  may  be  the  giraffe,  but  this  is  highly 
improbable;  at  any  rate,  the  evidence  for  such  an  identifi- 
cation is  insufficient.  In  the  epoch  of  Hellenism  when  the 
geographical  horizon  had  widened  and  when  giraffes  were 
transmitted  from  Egypt  to  Rome,  we  meet  the  first  de- 
scription of  them  in  late  Greek  and  Roman  authors.  There 
is,  accordingly,  no  representation  of  the  animal  in  Greek 
art,  nor  is  it  found  on  antique  coins  or  engraved  gems. 

In  46  B.C.  the  first  giraffe  arrived  in  Rome,  and 
marched  in  Caesar's  triumphal  procession;  it  was  subse- 
quently shown  in  the  circus  games  held  by  Caesar.  This 
event  caused  a  great  sensation,  and  is  referred  to  by  Varro, 
Horace,  Dio  Cassius,  and  Pliny. 

Ten  giraffes  appeared  in  the  circus  of  Rome  in  A.D.  247 
under  the  emperor  Gordianus  III  to  take  part  in  the  cele- 
bration of  the  first  millennium  that  had  elapsed  since  the 
foundation  of  Rome.  This  was  the  largest  number  of  live 
giraffes  ever  brought  together  at  any  time.  Giraffes  were 
also  in  the  possession  of  the  emperor  Aurelianus  (A.D. 
270-275).  In  A.D.  274,  when  he  celebrated  his  triumph 
over  Zenobia,  queen  of  Palmyra,  several  giraffes  appeared 
in  the  circus  games. 

In  regard  to  the  habitat  of  the  animal  the  notions  of 
the  ancients  were  vague.  Some  authors  like  Pausanias, 
Bassus,  and  others  locate  it  in  India;  Artemidorus  ascribes 

58 


LEAFLET  27. 


GIRAFFE  GUIDED  BY  AFRICAN   NATIVE. 
Photograph  by  Courtesy  of  Carl  Hagenbeck. 


The  Giraffe  among  the  Ancients  59 

it  to  Arabia,  Agatharchides  to  the  country  of  the  Trog- 
lodytes; Pliny  and  Heliodorus  place  its  home  in  Ethiopia. 

Agatharchides  of  Cnidus,  a  Greek  historian  and  geo- 
grapher, who  lived  under  Ptolemy  Philometor  (181-146 
B.C.),  is  the  author  of  a  geographical  treatise  on  the  Red 
Sea,  which  has  not  been  preserved,  but  extracts  of  which 
have  been  handed  down  by  Diodorus  (II,  51)  and  Photius. 
"The  animals  called  camelopardalis  by  the  Greeks,"  Aga- 
tharchides relates,  "present  a  mixture  of  both  the  animals 
comprehended  in  this  appellation.  In  size  they  are  smaller 
than  camels,  but  shorter  in  the  neck;  as  to  their  head  and 
the  disposition  of  their  eyes  they  are  somewhat  like  a  pard 
(pardalis).  In  the  curvature  of  the  back  again  they  have 
some  resemblance  to  the  camel,  but  in  color  and  growth  of 
hair  they  are  like  pards  (leopards).  In  like  manner,  as  they 
have  a  long  tail,  they  typify  the  nature  of  this  animal." 

Strabo  (XVI.  4, 16)  describes  the  giraffe  after  Artemi- 
dorus,  a  geographer  and  traveller  from  Ephesus  (about 
100  B.C.)  as  follows:— 

"Camelopards  are  bred  in  these  parts,  but  they  do  not 
in  any  respect  resemble  leopards,  for  their  variegated  skin 
is  more  like  the  streaked  and  spotted  skin  of  fallow  deer. 
The  hinder  quarters  are  so  very  much  lower  than  the  fore 
quarters,  that  it  seems  as  if  the  animal  were  sitting  upon 
its  rump.  It  has  the  height  of  an  ox;  the  fore  legs  are  as 
long  as  those  of  the  camel.  The  neck  rises  high  and 
straight  up,  but  the  head  greatly  exceeds  in  height  that  of 
the  camel.  From  this  want  of  proportion,  the  speed  of  the 
animal  is  not  so  great,  I  think,  as  it  is  described  by  Artemi- 
dorus,  according  to  whom  it  cannot  be  overtaken.  It  is, 
however,  not  a  wild  animal,  but  rather  like  a  domesticated 
beast;  for  it  shows  no  signs  of  a  savage  disposition." 

Dio  Cassius,  in  his  Roman  History  (XLII),  alludes  to 
the  fact  that  the  camelopardalis  was  introduced  into  Rome 
by  Caesar  for  the  first  time  and  exhibited  to  all.  He  de- 
scribes the  animal  "as  being  like  a  camel  in  all  respects, 
except  that  its  legs  are  not  all  of  the  same  length,  the  hind 


60  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

legs  being  the  shorter.  Beginning  from  the  rump  it  grows 
gradually  higher,  which  gives  it  the  appearance  of  mount- 
ing some  elevation ;  and  towering  high  aloft,  it  supports  the 
rest  of  its  body  on  its  front  legs  and  lifts  its  neck  in  turn  to 
an  unusual  height.  Its  skin  is  spotted  like  a  leopard,  and 
for  this  reason  it  bears  the  joint  name  of  both  animals." 
This  plain  and  clear  notice  is  doubtless  based  on  a  personal 
experience  with  the  giraffe. 

In  the  same  manner  as  the  ostrich  was  believed  to 
resemble  the  camel  (Leaflet  23,  p.  24),  Pliny  (VIII,  27) 
recognized  an  affinity  of  the  camel  with  the  giraffe.  He 
describes  it  under  the  name  cameleopardus  and  locates  it 
correctly  in  Ethiopia,  where,  he  says,  it  is  called  nabun. 
"It  has  a  neck  like  that  of  a  horse,  feet  and  legs  like  those 
of  an  ox,  a  head  like  that  of  a  camel,  and  is  covered  with 
white  spots  upon  a  red  ground;  hence  it  has  been  styled 
cameleopard.  It  was  first  seen  at  Rome  in  the  circus  games 
held  by  Caesar,  the  Dictator.  Since  that  time  it  has  been 
occasionally  seen  again.  It  is  more  remarkable  for  the 
singularity  of  its  appearance  than  for  its  fierceness;  for  this 
reason  it  has  obtained  the  name  of  the  wild  sheep."  In- 
deed, the  giraffe  was  called  in  Latin  also  ovis  fera  ("wild 
sheep"). 

Horace  (Epistles  II,  1)  reproaches  his  fellow-citizens 
for  the  pleasure  they  take  in  the  circus  games,  and  on 
this  occasion  paraphrases  the  name  Camelopardalis: — 

Si  foret  in  terris,  rideret  Democritus,  seu 
Diversum  confusa  genus  panthera  camelo, 
Sive  elephas  albus  vulgi  converteret  ora. 

"Democritus,  if  he  were  still  on  earth, 
would  deride  a  throng  gazing  with  open 
mouth  at  a  beast  half  camel,  half  panther, 
or  at  a  white  elephant." 

C.  Julius  Solinus  (Collectanea  rerum  memorabilium, 
30,  19)  mentions  the  giraffe,  but  merely  copies  Pliny. 

The  poem  Kynegetika  ("The  Hunt"),  ascribed  to  the 
poetOppianus  (second  century  A.D.),  but  written  by  a  poet 
from  Apamea,  contains  a  remarkably  good  description  of 


The  Giraffe  among  the  Ancients  61 

the  giraffe  (III,  461 ;  ed.  of  P.  Boudreaux,  p.  119).  "Muse! 
May  thy  sonorous  and  harmonious  voice  sing  also  of  the 
animals  of  mixed  nature  formed  by  a  combination  of  two 
different  races  among  which  the  leopard  with  speckled 
back  is  united  with  the  camel.  Father  Jupiter,  what  mag- 
nificence shines  in  thy  numerous  works!  What  an  abun- 
dant variety  is  revealed  in  plants,  quadrupeds,  and  marine 
mammals!  How  many  gifts  didst  thou  bestow  on  the  mor- 
tals! Thou  whose  power  has  clothed  with  the  leopard's 
robe  this  species  of  camel  embellished  with  the  richest 
colors, — noble  and  charming  animals  tamed  by  man  with- 
out effort!  They  have  a  long  neck,  their  body  is  sprinkled 
with  various  spots;  short  ears  crown  their  heads  devoid  of 
hair  in  the  upper  part.  Their  legs  are  long,  and  their  feet 
are  large,  but  these  limbs  are  unequal  in  size.  The  fore 
legs  are  much  more  elevated  than  those  behind  which  are 
considerably  shorter.  The  lame  have  such  legs.  From  the 
middle  of  the  head  of  these  animals  issue  two  horns  which 
are  not  of  the  nature  of  ordinary  horns;  their  soft  points 
surrounded  by  hair  rise  on  the  temples  and  close  to  the 
ears.  This  species,  like  deer,  has  a  small  mouth  slightly 
split  and  provided  with  small  teeth  as  white  as  silk.  Its 
eyes  are  vividly  lustrous,  and  its  tail,  as  short  as  that  of  a 
gazelle,  is  furnished  with  a  tuft  of  black  hair  at  the  end." 

Oppianus  is  the  first  author  who  mentions  the  horns 
of  the  giraffe,  but  curiously  enough  he  does  not  mention 
its  name. 

Heliodorus  from  Emesa,  bishop  of  Trikka,  who  lived 
in  the  third  or  fourth  century  A.D.,  has  given  the  most  de- 
tailed description  of  the  animal,  which  is  embodied  in  his 
romance  The  Ethiopics  (Aethiopica  X,  27).  The  envoys  of 
the  Axiomites  of  Abyssinia  presented  a  giraffe  to  the  king. 
"These  also  presented  gifts  among  which,  besides  other 
things,  there  was  a  certain  species  of  animal,  of  nature 
both  extraordinary  and  wonderful.  In  size  it  approached 
that  of  a  camel,  but  the  surface  of  its  skin  was  marked  with 
flower-like  spots.   Its  hind  parts  and  the  flanks  were  low, 


62  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

and  like  those  of  a  lion,  but  the  shoulders,  fore  legs,  and 
chest  were  much  higher  in  proportion  than  the  other  limbs. 
His  neck  was  slender,  towering  up  from  his  large  body  into 
a  swan-like  neck.  His  head,  like  that  of  a  camel,  was  about 
twice  as  large  as  that  of  a  Libyan  ostrich.  His  eyes  were 
very  bright  and  rolled  with  a  fierce  expression.  His  gait 
also  was  different  from  that  of  every  other  land  or  water 
animal,  for  his  legs  were  not  moved  alternately  but  by 
pairs,  those  on  the  right  side  being  moved  together,  and 
then,  in  like  manner,  those  on  the  left  together,  one  side  at 
a  time  being  raised  before  the  other,  so  that  in  walking  he 
always  had  one  side  dangling.  For  the  rest  he  was  so  tame 
and  gentle  in  disposition  that  his  master  led  him  wherever 
he  pleased  solely  by  a  small  cord  fastened  around  his  neck, 
and  he  followed  him  wherever  he  wanted,  as  though  he 
were  attached  to  him  by  means  of  a  very  large  and  strong 
fetter.  At  the  appearance  of  this  creature  the  multitude 
was  struck  with  astonishment,  and  its  form  suggesting  a 
name,  it  received  from  the  populace,  from  the  most  pro- 
minent features  of  its  body  resembling  a  camel  and  a  leo- 
pard, the  improvised  name  of  camelopardalis." 

When  the  sacrificial  animals  at  the  altars  of  Helios 
and  Selene  (the  Sun  and  Moon)  got  sight  of  the  odd  beast, 
a  stampede  ensued ;  four  white  horses  and  a  pair  of  bulls 
were  terrified  as  if  they  had  beheld  some  phantom,  freed 
themselves,  and  galloped  wildly  away. 

Heliodorus'  description  is  picturesque  and  fairly  accu- 
rate, save  the  remark  about  the  fierce  glances  of  the  animal, 
and  is  apparently  based  on  direct  observation.  It  is  note- 
worthy that  he  is  the  first  who  comments  on  the  amble  of 
the  giraffe  (see  above,  p.  8). 

A  giraffe  (reproduced  in  Fig.  15)  is  painted  as  a  deco- 
ration on  the  wall  of  a  mortuary  vault  (columbarium)  of 
the  Villa  Pamfili  at  Rome.  The  animal  is  conducted  by  a 
young  guide  by  means  of  a  long  bridle  and  carries  a  bell 
(tintinnabulum)  around  its  neck,  a  symbol  of  its  tameness. 
On  the  other  side  of  the  man  there  is  an  antelope.   The 


The  Giraffe  among  the  Ancients 


63 


original  has  been  destroyed,  but  a  copy  of  the  picture  is 
preserved  in  Munich. 

Two  giraffes  are  represented  in  a  mosaic  now  pre- 
served in  the  palace  Barberini  of  Palestrina  (the  ancient 
Praeneste,  21  miles  from  Rome).  They  are  shown  grazing 
and  browsing  (Fig.  16). 

This  mosaic  was  discovered  in  1640  and  purchased  by 
Cardinal  Barberini,  who  caused  a  careful  drawing  to  be 
made  of  it,  and  then  had  it  removed  to  Rome  for  repairs 
before  having  it  relaid  in  his  palace  at  Palestrina.  It  is  said 
to  have  formed  the  pavement  of  part  of  the  Temple  of 


Fig.  15. 
Roman  Mural  Painting  of  a  Giraffe  with  Guide. 
After  Daremberg  and  Saglio. 

Fortune  at  Praeneste,  but  this  view  is  contested  by  S. 
Reinach.  The  upper  portion  of  the  composition  illustrates 
animals  of  the  Egyptian  Sudan;  they  show  a  striking  re- 
semblance to  those  of  the  tomb  of  Marissa. 

In  the  Necropolis  of  Marissa  in  Palestine  there  is  in 
one  of  the  tombs  a  painted  frieze  of  animals  of  Graeco- 
Egyptian  style,  among  these,  in  the  opinion  of  the  discov- 
erers of  the  tomb,  "what  is  evidently  intended  for  a  giraffe" 
(J.  P.  Peters  and  H.  Thiersch,  Painted  Tombs  in  the 
Necropolis  of  Marissa,  p.  25.  Palestine  Exploration  Fund, 


64 


Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 


London,  1905).  They  describe  it  as  follows:  "The  neck  is 
very  long,  but  the  head,  with  its  rounded  ears  and  large, 
prominent  eye,  is  much  too  big.  The  hind  quarters  and  tail 


Fig.  16. 

Giraffes  in  the  Mosaic  of  Palestrina. 

After  S.  Reinach,  Repertoire  de  Peintures. 


are  those  of  the  deer,  the  fore  legs  are  as  long  as  the  hind 
legs,  and  the  withers  actually  lower  than  the  rump.  The 
spotted  skin  is  represented  by  little  black  and  red  spots. 


Fig.  17. 
Giraffe  (?)  from  Painted  Tomb  at  Marissa,  Palestine. 
After  Peters  and  Thiersch. 

The  title  above  it  seems  to  read :  Kamelopardalos."  If  the 
latter  statement  were  correct,  there  would  be  no  doubt  of 
the  artist's  intention,  but  in  the  colored  plate  (VII)  repro- 


The  Giraffe  among  the  Ancients  65 

during  this  portion  of  the  frieze  I  cannot  recognize  such  a 
name.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  drawing  itself  is  clumsy  and 
rather  represents  a  deer  with  a  somewhat  long  neck,  with- 
out any  peculiar  characteristics  of  a  giraffe.  The  animal 
was  probably  known  to  the  painter  only  from  hearsay 
accounts  (Fig.  17). 

The  ancients  have  not  done  justice  to  the  giraffe,  and 
have  not  produced  any  really  artistic  representation  of  it. 


THE  GIRAFFE  AT  CONSTANTINOPLE 

Menageries  were  established  at  Constantinople  during 
the  eleventh  century  when  Cortstantinus  IX  received  an 
elephant  and  a  giraffe  from  the  Sultan  of  Egypt.  These 
animals  were  repeatedly  shown  in  the  theatre  of  Byzance 
and  marvelled  at  as  wonders  of  nature.  The  Greeks  were 
passionately  fond  of  circus  games  and  combats  of  ferocious 
beasts.  The  capture  of  Constantinople  through  the  crusa- 
ders in  1203  and  the  subsequent  pillage  of  the  city  un- 
doubtedly led  to  the  destruction  of  the  amphitheatre  which 
is  no  longer  mentioned  after  that  date.  Notwithstanding, 
the  Byzantine  emperors  continued  to  keep  exotic  animals. 
In  1257  Michael  Paleologus  received  from  the  king  of  Ethi- 
opia a  giraffe  which  he  paraded  for  several  days  through 
the  streets  of  the  city  for  the  diversion  of  the  Byzantines. 
This  event  was  regarded  as  of  sufficient  importance  that 
Pachymerus,  the  contemporaneous  chronicler  of  the  reign 
of  Michael,  took  the  opportunity  of  inserting  in  his  work 
a  detailed  description  of  the  animal.  He  emphasizes  its 
gentle  disposition  and  writes  that  it  is  so  tame  that  it 
allows  even  children  to  play  with  it;  it  lives  on  grass,  but 
also  likes  bread  and  barley  no  less  than  a  sheep. 

Philostorgius  (A. D.  364-424),  author  of  an  ecclesiastic 
history  (III,  11),  speaks  of  the  animals  which  had  come 
from  Ethiopia  to  Constantinople,  and  mentions  drawings 
representing  giraffes  which  he  had  seen  at  Constantinople 
himself.  He  gives  a  very  brief  description  of  the  animal, 
comparing  it  with  a  large  stag.  According  to  Gyllius,  au- 
thor of  a  Topography  of  Constantinople,  there  were  in  that 
city  stone  statues  of  giraffes  publicly  exhibited,  together 
with  those  of  unicorns,  tigers,  and  vultures,  but  they  have 
since  disappeared.  It  appears  from  these  data  that  the 
giraffe  must  have  played  a  certain  role  in  Byzantine  picto- 
rial and  plastic  art. 

The  menagerie  of  Constantinople  was  visited  and  de- 
scribed by  Pierre  Belon  in  1546,  but  no  giraffe  is  mentioned 

66 


The  Giraffe  at  Constantinople  67 

by  him.  Thirty  years  later  the  menagerie  was  enriched  by 
a  giraffe  which  took  part  in  the  festivities  occasioned  by  the 
circumcision  of  Mahomet  III.  Baudier  (Histoire  generate 
du  Serrail,  Lyons,  1659)  attended  these  festivities,  and 
describes  a  giraffe  exhibited  on  this  occasion  in  the  hippo- 
drome. He  makes  the  curious  statement  that  its  fore  legs  are 
four  or  five  times  higher  than  the  hind  legs.  When  con- 
ducted through  the  streets,  he  says,  its  head  reached  into 
the  windows  of  the  houses. 

English  travellers  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  gi- 
raffe at  Constantinople.  This  accounts  for  the  fact  that 
the  first  English  picture  of  the  animal  was  secured  by  way 
of  Constantinople. 

Fig.  18  is  a  reproduction  of  the  giraffe  inserted  in 
Edward  Topsell's  "Historie  of  Foure-footed  Beastes,"  pub- 
lished in  London,  1607.  In  regard  to  the  source  of  his 
illustration,  Topsell  gives  the  following  information:  "The 
latter  picture  here  set  down  was  truely  taken  by  Melchior 
Luorigus  at  Constantinople,  in  the  yeare  of  salvation  1559. 
By  the  sight  of  one  of  these,  sent  to  the  great  Turke  for  a 
present:  which  picture  and  discription,  was  afterwarde  sent 
into  Germany,  and  was  imprinted  at  Norimberge." 

Fynes  Moryson,  author  of  the  History  of  Ireland, 
offers  in  his  "Itinerary"  (1597)  the  following  story: — 

"Here  (at  Constantinople)  be  the  mines  of  a  pallace 
upon  the  very  wals  of  the  city,  called  the  palace  of  Con- 
stantine,  wherein  I  did  see  an  elephant,  called  philo  by  the 
Turkes,  and  another  beast  newly  brought  out  of  Affricke 
(the  mother  of  monsters),  which  beast  is  altogether  un- 
knowne  in  our  parts,  and  is  called  surnapa  by  the  people  of 
Asia,  astanapa  by  others,  and  giraffa  by  the  Italians,  the 
picture  whereof  I  remember  to  have  seene  in  the  mappes  of 
Mercator;  and  because  the  beast  is  very  rare,  I  will  de- 
scribe his  forme  as  well  as  I  can.  His  haire  is  red  coloured, 
with  many  blacke  and  white  spots;  I  could  scarce  reach 
with  the  points  of  my  fingers  to  the  hinder  part  of  his 
backe,  which  grew  higher  and  higher  towards  his  fore- 


68  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 


Fig.  18. 

Giraffe  from  E.  Topsell's  Historic  of  Foure-footed  Beaates  (1607). 

Drawn  in  1559  by  Melchior  Luorigus  at  Constantinople. 


The  Giraffe  at  Constantinople  69 

shoulder,  and  his  necke  was  thinne  and  some  three  els  long. 
So  as  hee  easily  turned  his  head  in  a  moment  to  any  part  or 
corner  of  the  roome  wherein  he  stood,  putting  it  over  the 
beams  thereof,  being  built  like  a  barne,  and  high  for  the 
Turkish  building,  not  unlike  the  building  of  Italy,  by  rea- 
son whereof  he  many  times  put  his  nose  in  my  necke,  when 
I  thought  myselfe  furthest  distant  from  him,  which  famili- 
arity of  his  I  liked  not;  and  howsoever  the  keepers  assured 
me  he  would  not  hurt  me  yet  I  avoided  these  his  familiar 
kisses  as  much  as  I  could.  His  body  was  slender,  not  great- 
er, but  much  higher  then  the  body  of  a  stagge  or  hart,  and 
his  head  and  face  was  like  to  that  of  a  stagge,  but  the  head 
was  lesse  and  the  face  more  beautifull:  he  had  two  homes, 
but  short  and  scarce  halfe  a  foote  long;  and  in  the  forehead 
he  had  two  bunches  of  flesh,  his  ears  and  feete  like  an  ox, 
and  his  legges  like  a  stagge." 

Of  the  oriental  words  given  by  Moryson,  his  philo  for 
elephant  is  Turkish,  which  is  derived  from  Persian  pil 
(Aramaic  pil,  Arabic  fil).  His  word  surnapa  for  the  giraffe 
is  Persian  surnapa  or  zurndpa. 

John  Sanderson,  a  London  merchant,  visited  Constan- 
tinople about  the  year  1600,  and  thus  relates  his  impres- 
sions at  the  first  sight  of  a  giraffe: — 

"The  admirablest  and  fairest  beast  that  ever  I  saw 
was  a  jarraff,  as  tame  as  a  domesticall  deere,  and  of  a  red- 
dish deere  colour,  white  brested  and  cloven  footed:  he  was 
of  a  very  great  height,  his  fore-legs  longer  then  the  hinder, 
a  very  long  necke,  and  headed  like  a  camell,  except  two 
stumps  of  home  on  his  head.  This  fairest  animall  was  sent 
out  of  Ethiopia,  to  this  great  Turkes  father  for  a  present; 
two  Turkes  the  keepers  of  him,  would  make  him  kneele, 
but  not  before  any  Christian  for  any  money." 


THE  GIRAFFE  DURING  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

After  the  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire  the  giraffe  re- 
mained unknown  in  most  parts  of  Europe  for  about  a 
thousand  years.  Even  that  small  sum  of  knowledge  which 
the  late  Greeks  and  Romans  possessed  of  the  animal  was 
lost  during  that  period,  and  the  few  mediaeval  writers  who 
refer  to  it  are  content  to  quote  Solinus;  thus  Isidorus  of 
Seville  (Etymologiarum  libri  XX,  XII,  19,  and  Origines 
XII,  2),  who  wrote  about  A.D.  636,  and  who  confounds 
the  camelopard  with  the  chameleon  and  for  the  rest  copies 
Solinus,  and  likewise  Rabanus  Maurus  (De  universo  VIII 
B),  abbot  of  Fulda  and  archbishop  of  Mayence  (about 
A.D.  844). 

A  new  impetus  to  knowledge  was  received  from  the 
Arabs  after  their  conquest  of  Spain.  The  Arabs  were  fond 
of  animals,  and  an  animal  park  belonged  to  the  essentials 
of  every  Muslim  court.  When  Abderrahman  III  (A.D. 
912-961)  in  A.D.  936  founded  the  city  Zahra,  one  mile  north 
of  Cordova,  in  Spain,  he  established  there  a  garden  where 
rare  animals  and  birds  were  kept  in  cages  and  fenced  en- 
closures. This  was  the  first  zoological  garden  in  Europe. 

In  southern  Europe  the  first  great  menageries  were 
installed  at  the  court  of  Frederick  II  (1212-50),  king  of  the 
Two  Sicilies.  This  prince,  born  in  Sicily,  rather  Italian 
than  German,  had  inherited  from  his  Neapolitan  mother  a 
taste  for  oriental  manners  and  a  veritable  passion  for  ani- 
mals. He  made  a  study  of  birds,  especially  those  used  for 
the  chase,  observed  them,  even  dissected  them,  and  wrote 
a  treatise  on  ornithology.  He  had  an  elephant  sent  to  him 
from  India,  and  he  presented  to  the  Sultan  of  Egypt  a 
white  bear  in  exchange  for  a  giraffe.  At  Palermo,  his  usual 
residence,  he  created  a  sort  of  zoological  garden  which  has 
been  described  by  Otto  von  St.  Blasio.  Frederick  was  on 
such  good  terms  with  the  Muslims  that  his  tolerance  gave 
rise  to  suspicions  of  his  orthodoxy.   He  was  in  correspon- 

70 


The  Giraffe  during  the  Middle  Ages  71 

dence  with  the  Arab  philosopher  Ibn  Sabin.  An  Arab  his- 
torian confesses  that  "the  emperor  was  the  most  excellent 
among  the  kings  of  the  Franks,  devoted  to  science,  philo- 
sophy, and  medicine,  and  well-disposed  toward  Muslims." 

In  1261  a  giraffe  was  presented  to  Manfred,  a  son'  of 
Frederick,  by  the  Sultan  Beybars  (above,  p.  36). 

It  was  accordingly  the  Arabs  who  acquainted  Euror 
pean  nations  with  the  live  giraffe.  This  fact  is  also  borne 
out  by  our  word  for  the  animal,  which  is  derived  from  the 
Arabic  zarafa  or  zurdfa.  The  old  Spanish  form  azorafd  has 
even  preserved  the  Arabic  article  al  (al-zarafa).  In  modem 
Spanish  and  Portuguese  it  is  girafa,  in  French  girafe  (older 
French  orafle  or  girafle),  Italian  giraffa.  During  the  middle 
ages  it  was  sometimes  identified  with  seraph:  thus  E.  Top- 
sell  (Historie  of  Four-footed  Beastes,  1607)  still  gives  the 
Arabic  name  as  Sarapha,  and  B.  von  Breydenbach's  pic- 
ture of  the  animal  is  inscribed  seraffa  (p.  76).  In  Purchas 
(Pilgrims)  the  form  ziraph  occurs.  Yule  thinks  it  is  not 
impossible  that  seraph,  in  its  Biblical  use,  may  be  radically 
connected  with  the  giraffe,  but  this  hypothesis  is  very  im- 
probable. 

Vincent  de  Beauvais,  author  of  the  Speculum  naturale 
(thirteenth  century)  refers  to  the  giraffe  in  three  different 
chapters  of  his  work  under  three  different  names,  without 
noticing  that  these  names  apply  to  the  same  animal.  First, 
he  describes  it  under  the  name  Anabulla  (evidently  based 
on  Pliny's  Ethiopic  word  nabun)  as  having  the  neck  of  a 
horse,  feet  and  legs  of  a  bull,  the  head  of  a  camel,  and  a 
skin  pale  red  and  white  in  color.  Second,  he  mentions  it  as 
camelopardus,  copying  Solinus  or  Isidorus.  Finally  he 
describes  it  under  the  name  Orasius,  saying  that  in  his  time 
it  had  been  transmitted  to  the  emperor  Frederick  by  the 
Sultan  of  the  Babylonians.  He  remarks  that  the  animal 
seems  not  to  be  ignorant  of  its  own  beauty,  for  when  it  sees 
people  standing  around,  it  turns  completely  so  that  it  may 
be  admired  from  every  side,  for  nature  has  ornamented  it 
with  finer  colors  than  all  other  beasts. 


72 


Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 


Albertus  Magnus  (1193-1280),  in  his  work  De  quad- 
rupedibus  (XXII,  2,  1)  mentions  the  giraffe  twice,  under 
the  name  Anabula  and  again  under  that  of  Camelopardu- 
lus,  without  recognizing  the  identity  of  the  two.  He  gives 
Seraph  as  Arabic  and  Italian  name,  and  writes  that  the 
skin,  on  account  of  its  decoration,  is  sold  at  a  high  price; 
he  also  mentions  the  giraffe  of  Frederick  II.  Neither  Vin- 
cent nor  Albertus  alludes  to  the  horns. 

The  Latinized  form  oraflus  (hence  older  French  orafle) 
is  distilled  from  old  Spanish  azorafa,  and  the  form  orasius 
occurring  in  Vincent  de  Beauvais  and  Albertus  Magnus  is 
due  to  a  misreading  of  /  (/)  for  s  (/),  which  letters  were 
very  similar  in  ancient  manuscripts  and  printed  books. 


Fig.  19. 

Cameleopardua  (Alleged  Giraffe). 

From  the  Dialogus  Creaturarum  Moralisatus  (1486). 

The  climax  of  all  these  confusions  was  finally  reached 
by  the  creation  of  a  picture  of  the  Camelopardus  recon- 
structed entirely  on  the  basis  of  mediaeval  literary  notices 
and  bearing  no  resemblance  whatever  to  a  giraffe.  The 
animal  shown  in  Fig.  19  is  reproduced  from  the  Dialogus 
creaturarum  moralisatus,  a  collection  of  moralizing  ani- 
mal fables  published  in  Dutch  (Gouda,  1480,  1481,  1483, 
and  Antwerp,  1486)  and  translated  into  English  under  the 
title  "The  Dialogues  of  the  Creatures  Moralized"  (London, 
1813,  with  the  animal  pictures).  Our  illustration  is  based 
on  a  photograph  taken  from  an  original  edition  of  the  work 
in  the  University  Library  of  Leiden.      The  text  begins, 


The  Giraffe  during  the  Middle  Ages  73 

"Cameleopardus  is  an  animal  which  has  a  hoof  like  a  camel, 
a  neck  like  a  horse,  feet  and  legs  like  a  buffalo,  and  many 
spots  as  the  animal  pardus  has  on  its  body."  Then  follows 
a  conversation  of  this  fictitious  creature  with  Christ,  which 
is  not  of  interest  in  this  connection.  A  similar  fantastic 
creature  accompanies  the  early  editions  of  Sir  John  Maun- 
deville's  Travels  as  an  illustration  of  the  giraffe  (p.  75). 

In  contrast  with  this  crude  ignorance  there  are  a  few 
mediaeval  travellers  who  had  occasion  to  see  giraffes  and 
wrote  of  them  somewhat  sensibly.  Cosmas,  a  Christian 
monk  from  Alexandria,  called  Indicopleustes  ("the  Indian 
Navigator"),  in  the  course  of  his  travels,  visited  Ethiopia 


Fig.  20. 

Camelopardalis  of  Cosmas  Indicopleustes. 

After  J.  W.  McCrindle,  Christian  Topography  of  Cosmas. 

about  A.D.  525,  and  in  book  XI  of  his  "Christian  Topo- 
graphy" (written  about  A.D.  547)  gives  a  brief  description 
of  the  animals  of  the  country.  The  giraffe  is  thus  treated 
by  him  under  the  name  Camelopardalis:  "Camelopards 
are  found  only  in  Ethiopia.  They  also  are  wild  creatures 
and  undomesticated.  In  the  palace  [in  the  capital  Axum] 
they  have  one  or  two  that,  by  command  of  the  king  [Eles- 
boas],  have  been  caught  when  young  and  tamed  to  make  a 
show  for  the  king's  amusement.  When  milk  or  water  to 
drink  is  set  before  these  creatures  in  a  pan,  as  is  done  in  the 
king's  presence,  they  cannot,  by  reason  of  the  great  length 
of  their  legs  and  the  height  of  their  chest  and  neck,  stoop 


74  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

down  to  the  earth  and  drink,  unless  by  straddling  with 
their  fore  legs.  They  must  therefore,  it  is  plain,  in  order  to 
drink,  stand  with  their  fore  legs  wide  apart.  This  animal 
also  I  have  delineated  from  my  personal  knowledge  of  it." 
Like  Herodotus  of  old,  Cosmas  was  ever  athirst  after 
knowledge  and  possessed  of  some  skill  in  drawing;  he  took 
much  delight  in  covering  his  manuscript  with  sketches  illu- 
strative of  what  he  had  observed,  especially  types  of  people 
and  animals.  His  giraffe,  reproduced  in  Fig.  20,  may  be 
designated  as  a  fairly  correct  outline  of  the  animal. 

A  giraffe  (orafle)  of  crystal  as  a  gift  of  the  Old  Man  of 
the  Mountain  to  the  king  of  France  is  mentioned  by  Jean 
Sire  de  Joinville  (Histoire  de  Saint  Louis,  written  between 
1304  and  1309). 

Marco  Polo  alludes  to  giraffes  in  three  passages  of  his 
famous  narrative, —  for  Madagascar,  the  island  of  Zanghi- 
bar  (that  is,  the  country  of  the  Negroes),  and  for  Abyssinia. 
Polo  never  visited  Madagascar,  and  his  hearsay  account 
of  the  island  contains  many  errors,  among  these  the  giraffe 
which  never  occurred  in  Madagascar  and  does  not  occur 
there.  The  interesting  point,  however,  is  that  Polo  is  the 
first  who  recognized  a  wider  geographical  distribution  of 
the  giraffe  and  looked  for  it  beyond  the  limits  of  Abyssinia 
to  which  all  former  travellers  had  confined  it.  With  refer- 
ence to  Zanghibar  he  informs  us, — 

"They  have  also  many  giraffes.  This  is  a  beautiful 
creature,  and  I  must  give  you  a  description  of  it.  Its  body 
is  short  and  somewhat  sloped  to  the  rear,  for  its  hind  legs 
are  short,  while  the  fore  legs  and  the  neck  are  both  very 
long,  and  thus  its  head  stands  about  three  paces  from  the 
ground.  The  head  is  small,  and  the  animal  is  not  at  all 
mischievous.  Its  color  is  all  red  and  white  in  round  spots, 
and  it  is  really  a  beautiful  creature." 

In  the  Latin  and  French  versions  the  animal's  name 
is  spelled  graffa ;  in  Ramusio's  Italian  version,  giraffa.  Abys- 
sinia is  called  by  Polo  Abash  (Italian  spelling:  Abascia; 


The  Giraffe  during  the  Middle  Ages  75 

Latin:  Abasia),  based  on  Arabic  Habash.  He  writes  that 
giraffes  are  produced  in  the  country. 

The  knight,  Wilhelm  von  Bodensele,  whose  itinerary- 
was  written  in  1336  at  the  request  of  the  Cardinal  Talley- 
rand de  Perigord,  saw  a  giraffe  at  Cairo,  calling  it  geraffan. 

The  earliest  notice  of  the  giraffe  in  English  literature 
occurs  in  the  Travels  of  Sir  John  Maundeville  of  St.  Albans 
(chap.  94),  written  about  the  year  1356: — 

"In  Araby  is  a  kynde  of  beast  that  some  men  call 
Garsantes  [giraffes],  that  is  a  fayre  beast,  and  he  is  hyer 
than  a  great  courser  or  a  stead  [steed],  but  his  neck  is  nere 
XX  cubytes  long,  and  his  crop  and  his  taile  lyke  a  hart  and 
he  may  loke  over  a  high  house."  The  numerous  manu- 
scripts of  Maundeville's  Travels,  owing  to  the  great  popu- 
larity of  the  book  (scarcely  two  copies  agree  to  any  extent), 
show  many  divergences,  and  in  some  of  them  giraffes  under 
the  name  orafles  are  ascribed  to  Chinese  Tartary,  with  the 
addition,  "There  also  ben  many  Bestes,  that  ben  clept 
Orafles.  In  Arabye,  thei  ben  clept  Gerfauntz,  that  is  a  Best 
pomelee  or  spotted." 

As  is  well  known,  Maundeville  is  a  fictitious  person, 
and  the  book  going  under  his  name  was  compiled  by  a 
physician  of  Liege  from  various  sources. 

The  first  printed  illustration  of  a  half-way  realistic 
giraffe  (Fig.  21)  is  found  in  the  Peregrinationes  in  Terram 
Sanctam  ("Peregrinations  into  the  Holy  Land")  by  Bern- 
hard  von  Breydenbach,  dean  of  Mayence.  This  work  was 
first  published  in  the  same  city  in  1486,  and  represents  the 
first  illustrated  account  of  a  pilgrimage  undertaken  into 
the  Holy  Land  in  1483-84,  that  contains  views  of  places 
seen  en  route  from  Venice  to  Mount  Sinai  and  drawn  by 
Breydenbach's  companion,  the  painter  Erhard  Reuwich. 
The  animals  sketched  by  him  are  the  giraffe,  inscribed 
Seraffa,  crocodile,  rhinoceros,  capre  de  India  ("Indian 
goat"),  unicorn  (a  horse  with  narwhal's  tusk),  camel,  sala- 
mander (gecko),  and  a  great  ape  of  unknown  name  (Simia 
sylvanus),  accompanied  by  the  statement  that  "these  ani- 


76  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 


Fig.  21. 

Giraffe  (Seraffa)  by  Edward  Reuwich. 
From  B.  von  Breydenbach's  Peregrinationes  in  Terrain  Sanctam  (.I486). 


The  Giraffe  euring  the  Middle  Ages  77 

mals  are  truly  depicted,  as  actually  seen  by  us  in  the  Holy 
Land"(hec  animalia  sunt  veraciter  depicta  sicut  vidimus 
in  terra  sancta).  Hugh  Wm.  Davies,  in  his  Bibliography  of 
Breydenbach  (1911),  remarks  that  "this  can  be  believed 
in  regard  to  the  figures  of  the  giraffe  and  dromedary,  which 
are  admirably  drawn  and  probably  the  earliest  printed." 
I  cannot  quite  approve  of  this  charitable  attitude,  for  the 
horns  of  the  animal  are  entirely  wrong;  in  fact,  they  are 
not  those  of  a  giraffe,  but  of  an  antelope  or  oryx,  very  like 
those  of  Oryx  leucoryx,  the  algazel.  The  tail  is  also  misrepre- 
sented; the  spots  are  indicated  by  small  circles.  I  am  in- 
clined to  presume  that  Reuwich  drew  the  picture  of  the 
giraffe  from  memory  and  that  in  his  effort  to  remember  it 
visions  of  the  oryx  may  have  crossed  his  mind;  at  any  rate, 
some  mishap  has  occurred  to  him. 

Breydenbach's  work  found  a  wide  distribution:  other 
editions  with  the  woodcuts  of  the  animals  are  in  Flemish 
(Mainz,  1488),  in  French  (Lyons,  1489),  in  Latin  (Speier, 
1490),  in  Spanish  (Zaragoza,  1498),  and  some  later  editions, 
which  go  to  show  that  in  the  latter  part  of  the  fifteenth 
century  the  giraffe  was  known  on  paper  in  most  countries 
of  Europe.  Not  all  editions,  however,  contain  the  illustra- 
tions; thus  the  Newberry  Library  of  Chicago  has  a  Latin 
edition  printed  at  Speier,  1486,  and  a  French  edition  of 
Paris,  1522,  which  are  minus  the  woodcuts. 

The  whole  plate  of  Reuwich's  animal  pictures  was 
taken  over  by  Nicole  le  Huen  and  reproduced  in  his  book 
"Des  sainctes  peregrinations  de  JheYusalem  et  des  avirons 
et  des  lieux  prochains,"  published  at  Lyons,  1488.  Joly 
and  Lavocat  have  copied  this  plate  and  erroneously  as- 
signed the  giraffe  and  other  animals  to  the  ingenuity  of 
Nicole  le  Huen,  as  Breydenbach's  work  was  not  accessible 
to  them. 

A  tolerably  accurate  sketch  of  a  giraffe  was  therefore 
known  in  central  Europe  toward  the  end  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  but  artistic  representations  of  the  animal  we  owe 


78  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

to  Italian  painters  of  about  the  same  time,  as  will  be  seen 
in  the  following  chapter.  • 

In  his  famous  edition  of  Marco  Polo's  Travels  Henry- 
Yule  comments  that  "the  giraffe  is  sometimes  wrought  in 
the  patterns  of  mediaeval  Saracenic  damasks  and  in  Sicili- 
an ones  imitated  from  the  former."  An  inquiry  addressed 
to  the  Victoria  and  Albert  Museum  of  London  in  regard 
to  these  designs  elicited  the  following  information  from 
Mr.  S.  L.  B.  Ashton,  in  charge  of  the  Department  of  Tex- 
tiles: "I  am  afraid  Yule  is  misleading  on  this  question;  the 
animals  on  these  silks  represent  some  form  of  deer  and 
could  not  be  taken  for  giraffes.  I  imagine  that  owing  to  the 
fact  that  they  are  usually  represented  in  confronted  pairs 
with  their  heads  upturned,  Yule  mistook  this  length  of 
neck  to  indicate  that  they  were  giraffes." 


THE  GIRAFFE  IN  THE  AGE  OF  THE 
RENAISSANCE 

The  civilization  of  the  Renaissance  in  Italy  is  char- 
acterized by  the  awakening  of  great  interest  in  natural 
sciences,  particularly  in  botany  and  zoology,  and  by  a  zeal 
for  collecting  curious  plants  and  animals.  During  the  fif- 
teenth century,  botanical  gardens  and  animal  parks  (Itali- 
an serraglio)  were  founded  in  many  places  in  Italy.  The 
joy  of  exotic  beasts  led  to  the  importation  of  live  lions, 
leopards,  elephants,  camels,  giraffes,  ostriches,  and  even 
crocodiles  from  the  ports  of  the  southern  and  eastern  Medi- 
terranean. Arabs  and  Turks  then  were  the  active  pur- 
veyors of  menagerie  animals,  in  the  same  manner  as  the 
Near  East  had  played  this  role  in  the  time  of  the  ancient 
Romans. 

One  of  the  chroniclers  of  Florence  relates  that  in  the 
year  1459,  when  the  Pope  Pius  II  and  Maria  Sforza  were 
received  in  that  city,  bulls,  horses,  boars,  dogs,  lions,  and  a 
giraffe  were  enclosed  on  a  public  square,  but  that  the  lions 
lay  down  and  refused  to  attack  the  other  animals.  From 
letters  of  contemporaries  we  learn  that  they  observed  that 
lions  kept  in  captivity  abandoned  their  ferocity;  and  it 
once  happened,  as  a  letter-writer  remarks,  that  a  bull 
drove  them  back  "like  sheep  into  their  fold." 

Of  the  collections  of  exotic  animals  maintained  by  the 
princes  of  Italy,  the  most  famous  was  the  menagerie  of 
Ferrante,  duke  of  Naples,  which  contained  a  giraffe  and  a 
zebra, — two  animals  hitherto  not  seen  in  Europe.  The 
duke  had  received  them  as  a  gift  from  the  Caliph  of  Bag- 
dad, toward  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

Under  Lorenzo  di  Medici  the  luxury  in  exotic  animals 
reached  its  climax  at  Florence.  He  had,  first  of  all,  leo- 
pards trained  for  hunting  whose  fame  spread  into  France; 
moreover,  tigers,  lions,  and  bears  which  he  caused  to  com- 

79 


80  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

bat  with  bulls,  horses,  boars,  and  greyhounds;  elephants 
which,  together  with  lions,  appeared  in  a  triumphal  proces- 
sion, and  finally  a  giraffe  presented  in  1486  by  El-Ashraf 
Kait-Bey  (1468-96),  the  Mamluk  Sultan  of  Egypt.  This 
animal  was  eulogized  by  the  poets  Angelo  Poliziano  and 
Antonio  Costanzo,  and  was  painted  in  one  of  the  frescoes 
of  the  Poggio  Cajano  Palace  in  1521. 

Poliziano  took  matters  rather  easily,  and  in  his  poem 
confined  himself  to  the  remark  that  he  had  seen  Lorenzo's 
giraffe;  then  he  proceeds  to  translate  literally  the  text  of 
Heliodorus  cited  above  (p.  61).  Costanzo,  however,  shows 
that  he  really  observed  the  animal,  and  his  data  betray 
the  mind  of  an  original  thinker.  He  criticizes  Strabo  for 
questioning  the  animal's  fleetness,  and  reproves  Pliny, 
Solinus,  Diodorus,  Strabo,  Varro,  and  Albertus  Magnus 
for  having  suppressed  the  fact  that  it  is  provided  with 
horns.  In  a  Latin  epigram  addressed  by  him  to  Lorenzo 
the  giraffe  is  introduced  as  speaking  to  the  latter  and 
lodging  a  complaint  at  having  thus  been  deprived  of  its 
horns  by  the  writers  of  the  past.  Lorenzo's  giraffe  was  so 
gentle,  he  says,  that  it  would  eat  bread,  hay,  or  fruit  out 
of  a  child's  hand,  and  that  when  led  through  the  streets,  it 
would  take  whatever  food  of  this  kind  was  offered  to  it  by 
spectators. 

Lorenzo's  giraffe  met  with  a  singular  fate:  it  aroused 
the  envy  of  Anne  de  Beaujeu,  daughter  of  Louis  XI,  king 
of  France,  who  died  in  1483.  Anne  inherited  from  her 
father  the  love  for  animals,  for  she  purchased  a  hundred 
and  fifty-six  siskins  for  the  large  aviary  of  the  castle.  She 
had  dreams  of  owning  some  day  a  giraffe,  which  at  that 
time  was  the  object  of  curiosity  at  the  Court  of  Florence 
and  which  she  alleged  Lorenzo  di  Medici  had  promised  her. 

Her  letter  addressed  to  him  on  the  14th  of  April,  1489, 
from  Plessys  du  Pare  is  a  document  curious  enough  to  be 
placed  here  on  record.  "You  know,"  she  wrote,  "that 
formerly  you  advised  me  in  writing  that  you  would  send 
me  the  giraffe  (la  girafle),  and  although  I  am  sure  that  you 


•"     at 

<    -g 

<  b 


r  o 


<  5 

x    O 


The  Giraffe  in  the  Age  of  the  Renaissance  81 

will  keep  your  promise,  I  beg  you,  nevertheless,  to  deliver 
the  animal  to  me  and  send  it  this  way,  so  that  you  may 
understand  the  affection  which  I  have  for  it;  for  this  is 
the  beast  of  the  world  that  I  have  the  greatest  desire  to 
see.  And  if  there  is  any  thing  on  this  side  I  can  do  for 
you,  I  shall  apply  myself  to  it  with  all  my  heart.  God  be 
with  you  and  guard  you."    Signed  "Anne  de  France." 

The  Medicean,  however,  remained  deaf  to  this  prayer 
and  kept  his  giraffe.  It  seems  that  breach  of  promise  suits 
were  not  yet  instituted  at  that  time. 

Giraffes  were  also  kept  at  other  Italian  courts;  for  in- 
stance, by  Alphonso  II,  duke  of  Calabria,  in  his  villa 
Poggio  Reale,  and  by  Duke  Hercules  I  in  the  Barco 
Park  at  Ferrara. 

A  giraffe  is  introduced  into  the  background  of  Gentile 
Bellini's  painting  "Preaching  of  St.  Mark  at  Alexandria," 
which  is  in  the  Brera  Gallery  of  Milan  (good  photograph 
in  the  Ryerson  Library  of  Art  Institute,  Chicago).  G. 
Bellini  (1426-1507)  was  court  painter  to  the  Sultan  at  Con- 
stantinople from  1479  to  1481,  and  brought  back  many 
sketches  on  his  return  to  Italy,  doubtless  also  the  sketch 
of  a  giraffe.  The  painting  in  question  was  left  unfinished 
at  his  death,  and  was  completed  by  his  brother  Giovanni. 
It  is  an  elaborate  composition:  a  throng  of  monks  and  tur- 
baned  Orientals  listening  to  the  sermon  of  St.  Mark  on  a 
huge  square  bordered  by  Moorish  buildings  and  a  cathe- 
dral in  the  background.  At  the  foot  of  the  stairway  is 
planted  a  solitary  and  harmless  two-horned  giraffe,  well 
outlined  in  its  general  features. 

In  1487  the  Sultan  of  Turkey  presented  to  the  Sig- 
noria  of  Florence  a  giraffe  which  caused  a  profound  sensa- 
tion. It  was  glorified  in  many  painted  portraits.  Thus  a 
giraffe  figures  in  an  "Adoration  of  the  Magi"  painted  in  the 
school  of  Pinturricchio  (1454-1513)  and  now  in  the  Pitti 
Palace  of  Rome. 

Andrea  Vannucchi,  called  Andrea  del  Sarto  (1486- 
1531),  has  inserted  a  giraffe  in  the  procession  of  the  Three 


82  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

Kings  painted  by  him  on  a  fresco  of  the  Church  of  the 
Annunciation  (Santissima  Annunziata)  at  Florence  (exe- 
cuted about  1510).  He  did  so  again  in  his  Tribute  to 
Caesar,  dated  1521. 

Leo  Africanus,  an  Arabic  traveller  from  Granada  (be- 
ginning of  the  sixteenth  century),  writes,  "Of  the  beast 
called  Giraffa. — This  beast  is  so  savage  and  wilde,  that  it 
is  a  very  rare  matter  to  see  any  of  them:  for  they  hide 
themselves  among  the  deserts  and  woodes,  where  no  other 
beasts  use  to  come;  and  so  soone  as  one  of  them  espieth  a 
man,  it  flieth  foorthwith,  though  not  very  swiftly.  It  is 
headed  like  a  camell,  eared  like  an  oxe,  and  footed  like  a... 
[a  word  is  wanting  here  in  the  original]:  neither  are  any 
taken  by  hunters,  but  while  they  are  very  yoong." 

Pierre  Gilles  of  Albi  (or  Latinized  Gellius)  was  sent 
in  1544  to  the  Orient  by  command  of  king  Francois  I,  in 
order  to  "search  for  and  amass  ancient  books  for  the  king's 
library."  He  stopped  at  Constantinople  and  Cairo,  and  in 
the  latter  city  visited  the  menagerie  of  the  castle,  where 
the  Pasha  of  Egypt  resided.  He  tells  us  that  he  found 
there  three  giraffes  which  he  describes  thus  (in  his  book  De 
vi  et  natura  animalium  XVI,  9) : — 

"On  their  foreheads  are  two  horns  six  inches  long,  and 
in  the  middle  of  their  forehead  rises  a  tubercle  to  the  height 
of  about  two  inches,  which  appears  like  a  third  horn  (in 
fronte  media  tuberculum  existebat,  velut  tertium  cornu, 
altum  circiter  duos  digitos).  Its  neck  is  seven  feet  long. 
This  animal  is  sixteen  feet  high  from  the  ground,  when  it 
holds  up  its  head.  It  is  twenty-two  feet  long  from  the  tip 
of  the  nose  to  the  end  of  the  tail;  its  fore  legs  are  nearly  of 
an  equal  height,  but  the  thighs  before  are  so  long  in  com- 
parison to  those  behind,  that  its  back  inclines  like  the  roof 
of  a  house.  Its  whole  body  is  sprinkled  with  large  spots, 
which  are  nearly  of  a  square  form  and  of  the  color  of  a  deer. 
Its  feet  are  cloven  like  those  of  an  ox;  its  upper  lip  hangs 
over  the  under  one;  its  tail  is  slender,  with  hair  on  it  to  the 
very  point.    It  ruminates  like  an  ox,  and,  like  cattle,  feeds 


The  Giraffe  in  the  Age  of  the  Renaissance  83 

upon  herbage  and  other  things.  Its  mane  is  like  that  of  a 
horse  and  extends  from  the  top  of  the  head  to  the  back. 
When  it  walks,  it  seems  to  limp,  first  moving  the  right  feet 
and  then  the  left  ones  and  simultaneously  its  sides.  When 
it  grazes  or  drinks,  it  is  obliged  to  spread  its  fore  legs  very 
widely." 

The  interesting  point  is  that  Gilles  is  the  first  who 
mentions  the  third  horn  on  the  head  of  the  Nubian  giraffe. 

Andre*  Thevet,  who  introduced  tobacco  into  France 
(see  "Introduction  of  Tobacco  into  Europe,"  Leaflet  19, 
p.  48),  and  who  accompanied  Gilles  during  part  of  his 
travels,  likewise  noticed  the  giraffes  at  Cairo,  and  gives  a 
sketch  of  one  in  his  book  "Cosmographie  de  Levant" 
(Lyons,  1554),  reproduced  in  Fig.  22.  He  writes,  "I  do  not 
wish  to  pass  over  with  silence  two  giraffes  (girafles)  which 
I  saw  there  (at  Cairo).  Their  necks  are  larger  than  that  of 
a  camel;  they  have  on  their  heads  two  horns  half  a  foot 
long,  a  small  one  on  the  front.  The  two  fore  legs  are  large 
and  high,  the  hind  legs  are  short,  as  may  be  seen  in  the 
accompanying  figure  represented  as  naturally  as  possible. 
This  beast  is  the  image  of  the  learned  and  educated  men, 
as  Poliziano  says;  for  these,  at  first  sight,  seem  to  be  rough, 
rude,  and  peeved,  although  by  virtue  of  the  knowledge 
they  have  they  are  far  more  gracious,  human,  and  affable 
than  the  others  who  have  no  knowledge  whatever  of  sci- 
ences and  virtue  or  who,  as  is  commonly  said,  have  greeted 
the  Muses  only  at  the  threshold  of  the  gate."  In  his  "Cos- 
mographie universelle"  (Vol.  I,  fol.  388b,  Paris,  1575), 
Thevet  has  given  a  more  extensive  notice  of  the  giraffe 
with  a  very  interesting  drawing  (reproduced  in  Plate  V), 
but  it  teems  with  so  many  errors  and  absurdities  that  it  is 
not  worth  placing  on  record.  He  locates,  for  instance,  the 
giraffe  in  India  and  denies  its  occurrence  in  Ethiopia.  The 
giraffe  (Plate  V)  is  guided  by  two  Arabs  and  driven  by 
a  third  man;  another  giraffe  in  the  background  freely 
browses  under  palms.  The  bodies  of  the  animals  are  un- 
fortunately misdrawn.  % 


84 


Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 


Pierre  Belon  (1518-64),  a  prominent  French  traveller 
and  naturalist,  reputed  for  the  exactness  of  his  observa- 
tions, saw  in  Cairo  the  same  giraffes  as  Gilles  and  Thevet, 
and  has  given  a  more  accurate  description  of  them,  which 
is  accompanied  by  the  quaint  picture  of  a  giraffe  drawn  by 
himself  from  life  (Fig.  23).   He  writes, — 

"Formerly  the  grand  lords,  whatever  barbarians  they 
may  have  been,  rejoiced  in  having  beasts  of  foreign  coun- 
tries presented  to  them.    In  the  castle  of  Cairo  we  saw 


Fig.  22. 

Giraffe  with  Guide. 

From  Andre  Thevet's  Cosmographie  de  Levant  (1554). 

several  of  those  which  had  been  brought  there  from  all 
parts  of  the  world,  among  these  the  animal  commonly 
called  Zurnapa,  by  the  ancient  Romans  Camelopardalis. 
This  is  a  very  beautiful  beast  of  the  gentlest  possible  dis- 
position, almost  like  a  lamb,  and  more  amiable  or  sociable 
than  any  other  wild  animal.  Its  head  is  almost  similar  to 
that  of  a  stag,  save  that  it  is  not  so  large,  and  bears  small, 
obtuse  horns»six  inches  long  and  covered  with  hair.  There 


The  Giraffe  in  the  Age  of  the  Renaissance 


85 


is  a  distinction  between  the  male  and  the  female  inasmuch  as 
the  horns  of  the  males  are  longer;  for  the  rest,  both  sexes 
have  large  ears  like  a  cow,  a  tongue  like  an  ox  and  black, 
and  lack  teeth  in  the  upper  mandible.    They  have  long, 

Portraift  de  la  Giraffe. 


Fig.  23. 
Giraffe. 
From  Pierre  Belon's  Observations  de  Plusieurs  Singularitez  et  Choses 
Memorables  (An vers,  1555). 

straight,  and  graceful  necks  and  fine,  round  manes.  Their 
legs  are  graceful,  high  in  front,  and  so  low  behind  that  the 
animal  seems  to  stand  erect.  Its  feet  are  like  those  of  an 
ox.   Its  tail  hangs  down  over  the  hocks,  being  round  and 


86  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

with  hair  three  times  coarser  than  that  of  a  horse.  It  is 
slender  in  the  middle  of  the  body.  Its  hair  is  white  and 
red.  In  its  gait  it  resembles  the  camel.  In  running,  the  two 
front  feet  go  together.  It  sleeps  with  the  paunch  on  the 
ground,  and  has  a  callosity  on  the  chest  and  thighs  like  a 
camel.  It  cannot  graze  standing  without  straddling  its  fore 
legs,  and  even  then  feeds  with  great  difficulty.  Therefore 
it  is  easily  credible  that  it  lives  in  the  fields  solely  on  tree- 
leaves,  its  neck  being  so  long  that  it  can  reach  with  its 
head  to  the  height  of  a  spear." 

Aside  from  exaggerating  the  proportion  of  fore  and 
hind  legs  and  the  erroneous  definition  of  the  gait,  Belon's 
description  is  fairly  exact. 

A  curious  utilization  of  the  hair  of  the  giraffe  is  men- 
tioned in  the  Travels  of  Nicolo  dei  Conti  of  the  fifteenth 
century.  Conti  was  a  pioneer  of  European  commerce  in 
the  East  and  travelled  extensively  in  Egypt,  Arabia,  Per- 
sia, and  India  from  1419  to  1444.  At  his  return  to  Italy  he 
gave  an  account  of  his  journey  to  Poggio  Bracciolini,  secre- 
tary of  the  Pope  Eugenius  IV.  Bracciolini  interpolated  in 
his  manuscript  some  information  received  from  emissaries 
of  the  Pope  to  Ethiopia,  and  the  notice  of  the  giraffe  ema- 
nates from  this  source.  Curiously  enough,  the  animal's 
name  is  not  given.  We  read  in  Conti's  Travels,  "They 
informed  me  that  there  was  also  another  animal,  nine  cubits 
long  and  six  in  height,  with  cloven  hoofs  like  those  of  an 
ox,  the  body  not  more  than  a  cubit  in  thickness,  with  hair 
very  like  to  that  of  a  leopard  and  a  head  resembling  that  of 
the  camel,  with  a  neck  four  cubits  long  and  a  hairy  tail: 
the  hairs  are  purchased  at  a  high  price,  and  worn  by  the 
women  suspended  from  their  arms,  and  ornamented  with 
various  sorts  of  gems." 

It  is  a  curious  coincidence  that  a  similar  allusion  to 
giraffe-tails  occurs  in  the  Tractatus  pulcherrimus  by  an  un- 
known author,  written  in  the  second  half  of  the  fifteenth 
century  and  published  together  with  the  famous  letter  of 
Prester  John  (see  note  on  p.  97).  The  giraffe  has  hitherto 


The  Giraffe  in  the  Age  of  the  Renaissance  87 

not  been  recognized  in  this  passage,  but  comparison  with 
Conti's  account  leaves  no  doubt  of  the  giraffe  being  in- 
tended. In  enumerating  the  animals  of  Ethiopia,  among 
these  elephant  and  rhinoceros,  this  text  mentions  "another 
animal  in  Ethiopia,  as  they  relate,  the  largest;  the  hairs 
of  its  tail  are  sold  at  a  great  price,  and  are  used  by  their 
women  as  a  great  ornament."  In  the  same  manner  as  in 
Conti's  notice,  the  animal  is  not  named,  and  it  is  certain 
that  the  passage  must  emanate  from  the  same  source, — the 
Pope's  ambassadors  to  Ethiopia.  We  remember  that  gi- 
raffe-tails were  offered  as  presents  to  King  Tutenkhamon 
(above,  p.  23),  and  it  is  interesting  to  observe  how  such  old 
practices  have  been  perpetuated  through  centuries  down 
to  modern  times  (above,  p.  6).  The  Masai  of  East  Africa 
still  preserve  the  long  hairs  of  giraffe-tails,  and  their  girls 
use  these  hairs  as  threads  to  sew  the  beads  on  to  their 
clothes.  The  natives  of  Kordofan  still  make  bracelets  of 
such  hairs,  which  are  traded  over  the  Sudan. 

In  H.  Goebel's  "Wandteppiche"  (Plate  226)  is  repro- 
duced a  carpet  from  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
doubtfully  referred  to  the  manufacture  of  Oudenarde  in 
Flanders.  In  this  carpet  are  represented  five  giraffes 
equipped  with  headstalls  and  collar  bands  apparently 
decorated  with  jewels;  one  of  the  animals  is  provided 
with  three  horns.  Their  necks  are  straight  and  too  long 
proportionately;  anatomically  incorrect  and  fantastic, 
they  evidently  were  copied  from  drawings. 

The  Art  Institute  of  Chicago  owns  an  interesting  print 
said  to  be  Portuguese  and  to  date  from  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury. It  is  a  gift  of  Mr.  Robert  Allerton.  A  section  of  it  is 
reproduced  in  Plate  VI.  The  design,  a  giraffe  guided  by 
an  Arab  and  surrounded  by  floral  patterns,  is  repeated 
many  times.  It  is  a  continuation  of  the  tradition  inaugu- 
rated by  Thevet  and  Topsell. 


THE  GIRAFFE  IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY 
AND  AFTER 

The  first  live  giraffes  received  in  France  and  England 
were  gifts  of  Mohammed  Ali,  Pasha  of  Egypt,  who  also 
dispatched  a  live  specimen  to  the  Sultan  at  Constantinople 
and  to  the  court  of  Vienna. 

In  1826  he  presented  a  giraffe  to  the  king  of  France 
who  had  it  placed  in  the  Jardin  des  Plantes  of  Paris,  which 
had  been  established  in  1635.  This  was  the  first  living 
giraffe  who  made  its  appearance  in  France.  Its  arrival  was 
a  great  event  and  caused  a  sensation  throughout  the 
country.  This  giraffe  was  a  female,  about  two  years  old, 
eleven  feet  and  six  inches  in  height,  originating  from  Sen- 
naar.  She  was  about  six  months  old  when  captured  by 
Arabs,  and  was  sold  to  Muker  Bey,  governor  of  Sennaar, 
who  presented  her  to  the  Pasha.  She  was  embarked  at 
Alexandria,  wearing  around  her  neck  a  strip  of  parchment 
inscribed  with  several  passages  from  the  Koran  and  pur- 
ported as  an  amulet  to  safeguard  her  health  and  welfare. 
She  was  accompanied  by  four  Arabs  to  guide  her  and  by 
three  cows  to  supply  her  with  milk.  She  landed  at  Mar- 
seille in  November,  1826,  sixteen  months  after  leaving 
Sennaar,  and  arrived  in  Paris  in  June  of  the  following  year 
(1827).  She  was  introduced  to  the  king,  Charles  X,  who 
then  resided  in  the  castle  of  Saint-Cloud,  and  was  sub- 
sequently shown  to  an  ever-increasing  multitude  of  people. 
Every  one  was  eager  to  see  her,  thousands  waited  in  line 
for  hours  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  animal,  the  whole  press 
busied  itself  about  her.  Articles  and  poems  (chansons) 
were  devoted  to  her,  and  she  became  so  popular  that  she 
penetrated  into  the  realm  of  fashion  which  seized  her  forms 
and  colors,  creating  dresses  a  la  girafe,  hats  and  neckties 
a  la  girafe,  and  combs  a  la  girafe.  At  Nevers  she  was 
modeled  in  faience,  at  Epinal  she  was  glorified  in  colored 
pictures.  She  even  entered  the  sanctum  of  politics,  and  a 

88 


The  Giraffe  in  the  Nineteenth  Century  89 

bronze  medal  was  cast,  showing  a  giraffe  who  addresses 
these  words  to  the  country:  ''There  is  nothing  that  has 
changed  in  France,  there  is  only  another  beast  here."  This 
giraffe  gladdened  the  hearts  of  Parisians  for  nearly  twenty- 
years.  It  may  now  be  seen  stuffed  in  the  Natural  History 
Museum  of  the  Jardin  des  Plantes.  It  is  a  curious  coinci- 
dence that  it  is  just  a  hundred  years  since  this  first  live 
giraffe  arrived  in  Paris,  and  an  Associated  Press  dispatch 
from  Paris  of  July  30, 1927,  announces  that  this  centenary 
will  be  duly  celebrated.  In  1843  a  giraffe  was  presented 
by  Clot  Bey  to  the  menagerie  of  the  same  museum  in 
Paris. 

In  1827  Mohammed  Ali,  Pasha  of  Egypt,  presented  a 
Nubian  giraffe  to  George  IV,  king  of  England.  This  was 
the  first  giraffe  received  alive  in  Britain.  Unfortunately,  it 
survived  but  a  few  months  at  Windsor.  The  animal,  in  its 
surroundings  at  Windsor;  was  painted  by  James  Laurent 
Agasse;  this  picture  is  preserved  in  the  Royal  Collection 
and  reproduced  by  Lydekker  (in  Proceedings  of  the  Zoolo- 
gical Society  of  London,  1904,  Vol.  II,  p.  340).  A  portrait  of 
Mr.  Cross,  the  animal-dealer,  together  with  two  Arabs,  is 
introduced  into  the  scenery.  Owing  to  the  immature  con- 
dition of  the  animal,  the  frontal  horn  was  not  fully  devel- 
oped; the  animal,  as  shown  in  the  painting,  displays  all  the 
characteristics  of  the  typical  Nubian  race  of  Giraffa  camelo- 
pardalis,  such  as  the  net-like  style  of  the  markings,  the 
white  "stockings,"  and  the  comparatively  large  size  of  the 
spots  on  the  upper  part  of  the  legs. 

Another  painting  in  the  Royal  Collection,  represent- 
ing a  group  of  giraffes,  is  by  R.  B.  Davis,  a  well-known 
painter,  and  is  dated  "September,  1827."  It  is  described 
as  "two  giraffes  belonging  to  George  IV,"  and  on  the  back 
it  is  titled  "portrait  of  the  Giraffe  belonging  to  his  Ma- 
jesty." According  to  Lydekker,  this  species  is  intended  for 
the  Southern  or  Cape  form,  as  the  old  bull  has  no  frontal 
horn,  while  the  markings  are  of  the  blotched,  instead  of 
the  netted,  type,  and  the  lower  parts  of  the  legs  are  spotted, 


90  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

although  not  quite  so  fully  as  they  ought  to  be.  Lydekker 
thinks  that  Davis  might  have  taken  Paterson's  specimen 
of  a  Cape  giraffe  in  the  British  Museum  as  his  model;  if 
this  conclusion  be  correct,  the  painting  is  of  very  con- 
siderable interest,  as  that  race  now  appears  to  be  extinct. 

Lieutenant  W.  Paterson  (Narrative  of  Four  Journeys 
into  the  Country  of  the  Hottentots  and  Caffraria  in  1777- 
79,  p.  127,  London,  1790),  who  was  commissioned  by  Lady 
Strathmore  to  botanize  in  the  then  unknown  region  of 
Caffraria,  offers  an  excellent  copper-plate  representing  a 
"Camelopardalis"  shot  by  him  in  South  Africa  and  de- 
scribes it  as  follows:  "The  color  of  these  animals  is  in 
general  reddish,  or  dark  brown  and  white,  and  some  of 
them  are  black  and  white;  they  are  cloven  footed;  have 
four  teats;  their  tail  resembles  that  of  a  bullock;  but  the 
hair  of  the  tail  is  much  stronger,  and  in  general  black;  they 
have  eight  fore  teeth  below,  but  none  above;  and  six 
grinders,  or  double  teeth,  on  each  side  above  and  below; 
the  tongue  is  rather  pointed  and  rough;  they  have  no  foot- 
lock  hoofs;  they  are  not  swift;  but  can  continue  a  long 
chase  before  they  stop;  which  may  be  the  reason  that  few 
of  them  are  shot.  The  ground  is  so  sharp  that  a  horse  is  in 
general  lame  before  he  can  get  within  shot  of  them,  which 
was  the  case  with  our  horses,  otherwise  I  should  have  pre- 
served two  perfect  specimens  of  a  male  and  female.  It  is 
difficult  to  distinguish  them  at  a  distance,  from  the  short- 
ness of  their  body,  which,  together  with  the  length  of  their 
neck,  gives  them  the  appearance  of  a  decayed  tree." 
Paterson  sent  home  an  immature  male  specimen  of  a 
Southern  giraffe  which  he  had  shot  and  which  was  pre- 
sented by  Lady  Strathmore  to  John  Hunter,  the  distin- 
guished surgeon.  The  animal's  skull  with  some  of  the  bones 
is  still  preserved  in  the  Museum  of  the  Royal  College  of 
Surgeons.  The  giraffe  itself  was  finally  acquired  by  the 
British  Museum,  where  it  was  still  extant  in  1843,  though 
in  bad  condition. 


The  Giraffe  in  the  Nineteenth  Century  91 

In  1836,  four  young  giraffes  from  Kordofan,  about 
two  years  old,  were  safely  received  at  the  London  Zoolo- 
gical Gardens.  The  animals — three  males  and  a  female — 
flourished,  and  became  the  progenitors  of  a  long  line  of 
English-bred  giraffes,  the  first  calf  being  born  in  June, 
1839.  It  was  followed  by  two  others,  the  old  female  dying 
at  the  age  of  eighteen  years.  The  animals  continued  to 
breed,  and  during  the  period  between  1836  and  the  death 
of  the  last  of  the  old  stock  in  1892,  no  less  than  thirty 
individuals  were  exhibited  in  the  Regent's  Park  menagerie, 
seventeen  of  which  had  been  born  there.  A  pair  of  young 
animals,  presented  by  Col.  Mahon  and  likewise  obtained 
from  Kordofan,  arrived  in  London  in  the  summer  of 
1902. 

The  first  living  example  of  the  Southern  giraffe  was 
imported  into  Europe  in  1895  for  the  Zoological  Garden 
of  London  at  the  price  of  £500.  It  had  been  captured  on 
the  Sabi  River  in  Portuguese  territory  and  brought  down 
to  Pretoria,  whence  it  was  conveyed  to  Delagoa  Bay  and 
shipped  to  Southampton. 

In  1863  Lorenzo  Casanova,  an  adventurous  traveller 
and  animal  collector,  returned  from  the  Egyptian  Sudan  to 
Europe  with  a  transport  of  six  giraffes,  the  first  African 
elephants,  and  many  other  rare  mammals.  In  1864  he 
entered  with  the  firm  Carl  Hagenbeck  into  a  contract 
according  to  which  all  animals  to  be  secured  on  his  future 
expeditions  to  Africa  should  be  ceded  to  the  latter.  In 
1870  the  largest  consignment  of  wild  animals  that  ever 
reached  Europe  arrived  at  Trieste,  consisting  of  fourteen 
giraffes,  ninety  other  mammals,  and  twenty-six  ostriches. 
The  giraffes  were  distributed  over  the  zoological  gardens  of 
Vienna,  Dresden,  Berlin,  and  Hamburg.  About  that  time 
the  itinerant  menagerie-owners  and  showmen  also  began 
to  keep  giraffes;  thus  Carl  Kaufmann,  famous  animal- 
trainer  and  disciple  of  Gottlieb  Kreutzberg,  who  always 
endeavored  to  gather  novel  and  interesting  beasts,  had  a 
superb  collection  of  trained  lions,  tigers,  elephants,  hippo- 


92  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

potamus,  rhinoceros,  and  giraffes.  Renz,  the  celebrated  cir- 
cus-director, utilized  giraffes,  antelopes,  buffalo,  and  many 
other  creatures  for  the  equipment  of  his  pantomime  "The 
Festival  of  the  Queen  of  Abyssinia." 

An  inquiry  addressed  to  the  firm  Carl  Hagenbeck  at 
Stellingen  near  Hamburg  elicited  the  information  that 
during  the  period  1873-1914  this  firm  imported  a  total  of 
a  hundred  and  fifty  giraffes  in  four  species, — Giraffa  camelo- 
pardalis  of  Lower  Nubia  and  Abyssinia,  G.  capensis  of  the 
Cape  territory,  G.  hagenbecki  from  Gallaland,  and  G. 
tippelskirchi  from  former  German  East  Africa.  The  largest 
specimen  imported  by  Hagenbeck,  about  eleven  and  a  half 
feet  in  height,  came  from  the  Galla  country,  and  was  trans- 
mitted to  the  Zoological  Garden  of  Rome.  Prior  to  1914 
Hagenbeck  maintained  at  the  foot  of  the  Kilimanjaro  in 
Africa  a  station  for  captive  animals,  where  the  captured 
young  giraffes  moved  freely  in  a  larger  kraal,  as  shown  in 
Plates  VIII-IX  made  from  photographs  due  to  the 
courtesy  of  the  firm  Carl  Hagenbeck.  In  its  wonderful 
park  at  Stellingen  the  giraffes  occupy  a  large  stretch  of 
land  with  a  fine  building  of  Arabic  style.  Like  other  ani- 
mals, giraffes  can  be  perfectly  acclimatized  almost  every- 
where, and  do  not  suffer  from  the  inclemencies  of  the 
European  winter.  Among  the  numerous  interesting 
observations  recorded  by  Carl  Hagenbeck  in  his  memoirs 
we  read  also  that  the  hairs  of  the  giraffes  adapt  them- 
selves to  the  new  conditions  of  life  and  that  toward  the 
end  of  the  winter  their  hairs  were  found  to  be  one  and  a 
half  times  longer  than  they  usually  are. 

Only  young  animals  of  about  eight  feet  in  height  are 
captured.  They  are  hunted  and  lassoed  by  horsemen. 
This  is  comparatively  easy,  but  the  task  of  accustoming 
them  to  their  new  life,  caring  for  them  and  rearing  them, 
above  all,  their  transportation  presents  difficult  problems. 
On  their  way  to  the  coast  the  animals  must  run.  A  strap 
is  placed  around  the  base  of  their  neck,  and  they  are 
governed  by  means  of  two  halters,  one  in  front  and  one 


The  Giraffe  in  the  Twentieth  Century  93 

behind.  On  board  ship  or  train  they  are  stowed  in  large 
boxes  which  in  size  must  correspond  to  the  height  of  the 
animal  with  its  neck  outstretched.  The  average  price  for 
a  young  giraffe  before  the  war  was  about  $1500-2000.  At 
present  when  giraffes  but  very  seldom  are  offered  on  the 
market,  prices  are  arbitrary  and  fluctuating,  and  vary 
between  $5000  and  $7500. 

The  Zoological  Society  of  Philadelphia  keeps  records  of 
all  the  animals  that  have  arrived  there  for  the  zoological 
garden  which  is  the  oldest  in  the  United  States.  The 
earliest  record  there  relating  to  the  arrival  of  giraffes  is  an 
entry  under  August  11,  1874,  when  five  males  and  one 
female  were  purchased. 

The  zoological  garden  in  Lincoln  Park,  Chicago,  re- 
ceived two  giraffes,  a  male  and  a  female,  two  years  old,  in 
October  1913,  as  a  gift  from  Mrs.  Mollie  Netcher  New- 
berger.  The  female  died  in  December,  1915;  the  male,  in 
May,  1919.  Both  were  mounted,  and  are  now  on  exhibi- 
tion at  the  Boston  Store.  A  giraffe  in  the  Bronx  Zoological 
Garden,  New  York,  according  to  newspaper  reports,  is 
said  to  have  given  life  to  three  young  ones. 

The  London  Zoological  Garden  now  has  only  two 
giraffes — Maudie  and  Maggie.  Maudie  is  a  Nubian  giraffe 
from  the  Sudan;  and  Maggie,  a  Kordofan  giraffe,  born  in 
the  menagerie,  who  has  weathered  twenty  years  of  capti- 
vity.   

In  modern  applied  and  commercial  art  the  giraffe  has 
not  been  entirely  forgotten.  It  is  familiar  to  our  newspaper 
cartoonists.  T^he  advertisement  of  a  well-known  throat 
remedy  is  accompanied  by  a  giraffe's  head  and  neck.  The 
British  Uganda  Railway  displays  a  poster  with  a  very 
effective  colored  picture  of  a  giraffe.  In  the  London  Illus- 
trated News  of  May  29,  1926  appeared  a  series  of  eleven 
comical  sketches  of  giraffes  from  the  hand  of  J.  A.  Shep- 
herd under  the  title  "Humours  of  the  Zoo:  Studies  of  Ani- 
mal Life,  No.  XV."  As  to  art-crafts,  I  have  noticed  metal 


94  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

figures  of  giraffes  as  radiator  caps  on  automobiles.  Yet,  a 
wider  application  might  be  made  of  this  motif;  for  in- 
stance, in  pen-racks  and  lamp-holders,  an  electric  bulb  being 
carried  between  the  horns.  Carl  F.  Gronemann,  who  has 
drawn  the  giraffe-heads  for  the  cover  and  vignette  of  this 
leaflet,  has  thereby  furnished  excellent  examples  of  how 
such  animal  designs  may  be  employed  in  the  graphic  arts, 
for  book-ornaments,  bindings,  or  book-plates.  Our  sculp- 
tors and  artists  in  oil  have  almost  neglected  this  subject. 
While  we  have  excellent  photographs  of  both  wild  and 
tame  giraffes,  a  really  artistic  painting  or  statuette  of  them 
remains  to  be  done,  and  the  inspiration  coming  from  the 
works  of  the  ancient  Egyptians  and  Chinese  may  be  help- 
ful to  the  modern  artist. 

A  very  artistic  picture  of  four  giraffes  browsing 
among  acacias,  by  the  American  artist,  Robert  Winthrop 
Chanler,  is  now  in  the  Mus6e  du  Luxembourg,  Paris; 
it  is  reproduced  in  The  American  Magazine  of  Art,  1922, 
No.  12,  p.  535. 


NOTES 

In  regard  to  the  role  of  the  giraffe  in  Hottentot  folk-lore  (p.  29) 
compare  the  stories  recorded  by  L.  Schultze,  Aus  Namaland  und  Kala- 
hari (Jena,  1907),  pp.  405,  417,  489,  531.  The  Masai  of  East  Africa 
have  a  good  story  of  the  Dorobo  and  the  Giraffe  (A.  C.  Hollis,  The 
Masai,  Their  Language  and  Folk-lore,  1905,  p.  235). 

Page  35.  Quatremere  (Histoire  des  Sultans  Mamlouks  de 
l'Egypte,  Vol.  I,  1840,  pp.  106-108)  has  extracted  from  Arabic  manu- 
scripts quite  a  number  of  records  referring  to  presentations  of  giraffes. 
Only  those  which  are  of  importance  on  account  of  their  historical  asso- 
ciations have  been  mentioned  by  me.  In  regard  to  al-Mahdi  (p.  35), 
see  T.  K.  Hitti,  Origins  of  the  Islamic  State,  Vol.  I,  p.  381  (Columbia 
University  Press,  1916).  The  essential  point  is  to  recognize  that  the 
Muslim  rulers  of  mediaeval  Egypt  were  exceedingly  active  in  sending 
giraffes  as  gifts  into  many  parts  of  the  world.  The  Abbassid  Caliphs 
had  an  animal  park  at  Baghdad  which  has  been  described  by  a 
Greek  embassy  in  A.  D.  917  (see  G.  Le  Strange,  Journal  Royal 
Asiatic  Society,  1897,  p.  41). — The  giraffe  occurs  also  among 
Egyptian  shadow-play  figures  of  Cairo.  One  of  these  is  illustrated  by 
P.  Kahle,  Der  Islam,  Vol.  II,  p.  173  (possibly  a  giraffe  in  Fig.  34,  Vol.  I, 
p.  294). — In  regard  to  the  derivation  of  the  Arabic  word  zarafa  from 
the  Ethiopic  and  the  relations  of  these  words  to  Egyptian,  compare  F. 
Hommel,  Die  Namen  der  Saugetiere  bei  den  sudsemitischen  Volkern 
(1879),  p.  230. — Masudi  is  not  the  first  Arabic  author  who  wrote  about 
the  giraffe.  There  is  an  earlier  lengthy  account  by  Al-Jahiz  (who  died 
in  A.D.  869)  in  his  Kitab  al-hayawan  ("Book  of  Animals"),  Vol.  VII, 
p.  76  of  the  edition  published  at  Cairo,  1907;  but  the  text  is  partially 
corrupt  and  very  abstruse,  and  as  its  essential  points  are  all  con- 
tained in  the  authors  cited  above,  I  have  not  reproduced  it. — The 
Persian  story  of  the  young  giraffe  (p.  39)  meets  with  a  curious  parallel 
to  what  the  Arabs  say  about  the  young  rhinoceros:  the  period  of  gesta- 
tion of  the  mother  rhino  is  four  years,  the  young  one  stretches  its  head 
out  of  the  mother's  womb  and  browses  at  the  trees  around;  at  the 
lapse  of  four  years  it  leaves  the  womb  and  runs  away  with  lightning 
speed,  for  fear  that  its  mother  might  lick  it  with  her  tongue  which  is  so 
rough  that  once  it  licks  an  animal,  the  latter's  flesh  will  separate  from 
the  bones  in  a  moment  (compare  G.  Ferrand  in  Journal  asiatique,  1925, 
Oct.-Dec,  p.  267). 

As  Prof.  Sprengling  kindly  informs  me,  one  of  the  earliest  Arabic 
references  to  the  giraffe  occurs  in  Bashshar  Ibn  Burd,  the  blind,  de- 
formed poet  of  the  late  Omayyad  and  early  Abbassid  period,  who  died 
in  A.D.  783.  In  a  satire  on  the  early  Mutagilite  Wasil  Ibn  Ata,  named 
Abu  Hudhaifa,  nicknamed  al-Ghazzal,  the  weaver  (because  he  fre- 
quented the  weavers  to  observe  the  chastity  of  their  women) ,  when  the 
latter  made  a  derogatory  exclamation  about  the  poet's  neck,  he  says: — 

95 


96  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

Why  should  I  be  bothered  by  a  weaver,  who,  if  he  turns  his 

back,  has  a  neck 
Like  an  ostrich  of  the  desert;  and  if  he  faces  you, 
The  neck  of  the  giraffe?  What  have  I  to  do  with  you? 

Some  Arabic  philologists  regard  zarafa  as  a  purely  Arabic  word 
and  derive  it  from  the  Arabic  root  zrf,  which  means  "assembly." 
Hence  Sibawaih,  the  great  grammarian  of  the  Arabs,  who  died  in  A.  D. 
793  or  796,  writes,  "God  created  the  giraffe  with  its  fore  legs  longer 
than  its  hind  legs.  It  is  named  with  the  name  of  the  assembly,  because 
it  is  in  the  form  of  an  assembly  of  animals.  Ibn  Doraid  writes  it  zurafa 
and  doubts  that  it  is  an  Arabic  word."  Ibn  Doraid,  of  course,  is 
justified  in  his  doubt;  he  was  a  celebrated  philologist  of  Basra  and  lived 
from  A.  D.  837  to  934. 

The  giraffe  in  Chinese  records  (p.  42)  was  first  pointed  out  by  H. 
Kopsch  {China  Review,  Vol.  VI,  1878,  p.  277),  who  translated  the  de- 
scription of  a  Kilin  with  reference  to  Aden  from  a  Chinese  biography 
of  Mohammed.  This  text,  however,  has  no  independent  value,  but  is 
literally  copied  from  Ma  Huan's  account.  This  brief  notice  induced 
De  Groot  to  contribute  to  the  same  journal  (Vol.  VII,  p.  72)  an  article 
on  "The  Giraffe  and  The  Kilin,"  in  which  he  tries  to  show  that  the 
Kilin  of  ancient  Chinese  tradition  may  be  identical  with  the  giraffe. 
This,  of  course,  is  a  reversion  of  logic.  It  is  impossible  to  assume  that 
the  ancient  Chinese  were  acquainted  with  the  giraffe,  which  in  the 
present  geological  period  did  not  anywhere  occur  in  Asia;  nor  do  the 
ancient  descriptions  of  the  Kilin,  as  assumed  by  De  Groot,  fit  the 
giraffe.  The  climax  of  sinological  romance  is  reached  by  A.  Forke  (Mu 
Wang  und  die  Konigin  von  Saba,  p.  141),  according  to  whom  the 
Chinese  were  acquainted  with  the  giraffe  in  the  earlier  Chou  period 
through  the  travels  of  King  Mu  to  the  west.  The  giraffe,  on  the  other 
hand,  was  not  recognized  by  Bretschneider  (China  Review,  Vol.  V, 
1876,  p.  172)  in  the  Kilin  of  Arabia  purchased  by  a  Chinese  envoy  in 
1430.  O.  Munsterberg  (Chinesische  Kunstgeschichte,  Vol.  II,  p.  65) 
sees  a  "wounded  giraffe"  on  a  Han  bas-relief  of  Teng-fung,  Ho-nan. 
The  animal  in  question  is  simply  a  deer.  The  alleged  "giraffe-like 
Kilin"  on  a  bronze  basin  of  the  Han  period  (cf.  A.  C.  Moule  in  the 
article  cited  in  the  Bibliography)  is  the  so-called  spotted  deer  (Cervus 
mandarinus),  called  by  the  Chinese  met  hua  lu  ("plum-blossom  stag"). 
Its  spots  are  represented  either  by  small  circles  or  even  by  plum- 
blossoms  of  realistic  style. 

The  reader  interested  in  the  relations  of  the  Chinese  with  the  east 
coast  of  Africa  may  consult  F.  Hirth,  Early  Chinese  Notices  of  East 
African  Territories,  Journal  American  Oriental  Society,  Vol.  XXX, 
1909,  pp.  46-57. 

The  animal  a-t'a-pi  (p.  43)  is  referred  to  by  W.  W.  Rockhill  (T'oung 
Poo,  1914,  p.  441)  with  the  remark,  "I  have  no  means  of  determining 
what  animal  is  meant."  Damaliscus  jimila,  according  to  Roosevelt, 
extends  from  Mount  Elgon  and  the  northern  highlands  of  Uganda 
southward  over  the  Man  Escarpment  and  Victoria  Nyanza  drainage 


Notes  97 

to  what  formerly  was  central  German  East  Africa;  westward  as  far  as 
the  Edward  Nyanza  and  Lake  Kivu;  also  near  the  coast  from  the  Sa- 
kaki  and  Tana  Rivers  northward  as  far  as  the  Juba  River.  The  topi  is 
one  of  the  most  conspicuously  colored  of  all  antelopes,  being  inversely 
countershaded.  The  body  coloration  is  a  bright  cinnamon-rufous  over- 
laid everywhere  by  a  silvery  sheen  which  gives  the  coat  a  resplendent 
effect.  The  red  color  is  deepest  on  the  head,  throat,  and  sides  and 
lightest  on  the  rump,  hind  quarters,  and  tail,  where  it  fades  to  pure 
cinnamon.  The  shoulders  are  marked  by  a  broad  black  patch  which 
extends  down  on  the  fore  legs  as  far  as  the  knees  and  completely  circles 
the  upper  part  of  the  leg.  The  hind  quarters  are  marked  by  a  much 
larger  black  patch  which  extends  down  on  the  limbs  as  far  as  the 
hocks  above  which  it  forms  a  complete  band  around  the  leg. 

Ma  Huan's  account  of  Aden  containing  the  description  of  the 
giraffe  (p.  45)  was  first  translated  by  G.  Phillips  in  Journal  Royal 
Asiatic  Society,  1896,  pp.  348-351,  and  subsequently  by  A.  C.  Moule 
in  the  article  cited  in  the  Bibliography. 

In  regard  to  the  opossum  (p.  54)  cf.  C.  R.  Eastman,  Early  Figures 
of  the  Opossum,  Nature,  Vol.  95,  1915,  p.  89. 

Page  58.  The  learned  S.  Bochart,  in  his  famous  Hierozoicon  (Vol. 

I,  col.  908,  1675)  rejected  the  opinion  that  Aristotle  was  acquainted 
with  the  giraffe,  but  subsequently  Pallas,  Allamand,  G.  Schneider  in  his 
translation  of  Aristotle's  History  of  Animals,  as  well  as  Joly  and  Lavo- 
cat,  have  championed  the  opposite  view,  which,  however,  is  untenable. 
O.  Keller  (Die  antike  Tierwelt)  offers  little  on  the  giraffe;  he  does  not 
place  the  accounts  of  the  ancients  on  record,  nor  does  he  discuss  them. 
H.  Rommel  (Die  naturwissenschaftlich-paradoxographischen  Exkurse 
bei  Philostratos,  Heliodoros  und  Tatios,  1923,  p.  61)  gives  a  brief 
critical  evaluation  of  the  texts. 

An  interesting  essay  on  the  former  statues  in  Constantinople 
(p.  66)  was  written  by  R.  M.  Dawkins,  Ancient  Statues  in  Mediaeval 
Constantinople,  Folk-lore,  Vol.  XXXV,  1924,  pp.  209-248. 

The  text  of  Jean  de  Joinville  (p.  74)  is  as  follows:  "Entre  les  autres 
joiaus  que  il  envoia  au  roy,  li  envoia  un  oliphant  de  cristal  mount  bien 
fait,  et  une  beste  que  Ton  appelle  orafle,  de  cristal  aussi,  pommes  de 
diverses  manieres  de  cristal,  et  jeuz  de  tables  et  de  eschiez;  et  toutes  ces 
choses  estoient  fleuretees  de  ambre,  et  estoit  li  ambres  liez  sur  le  cristal 
a  beles  vignetes  de  bon  or  fin." — Natalis  de  Wailly,  Histoire  de  Saint 
Louis  par  Jean  Sire  de  Joinville  (1878),  p.  163. 

The  complete  title  of  this  curious  little  work  ( p.  86 )  is  Tractatus 
pulcherrimus  de  situ  et  dispositione  regionum  et  insularum  tocius 
Indiae,  nee  non  de  rerum  mirabilium  ac  gentium  diversitate.  A 
critical  editon  of  the  text  is  given  by  F.  Zarncke  (Der  Priester  Johannes 

II,  pp.  174-179). 

B.  Laufer. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Bryden,  H.  A. — On  the  Present  Distribution  of  the  Giraffe  South 
of  the  Zambesi.  Proceedings  Zoological  Society  of  London,  1891, 
pp.  445-447. 

Great  and  Small  Game  of  Africa.  London,  1899.      Giraffe: 
pp.  488-510. 

Burckhardt,  J. — Die  Kultur  der  Renaissance  in  Italien.  2  vols.  12th 
ed.   Leipzig,  1919. 

Eastman,  C.  R. — Early  Representations  of  the  Giraffe.  Nature,  Vol. 
94,  1915,  pp.  672-673. 

Illustration  of  the  giraffe  of  Pamfili  (incomplete)  after  O. 
Keller  and  an  Egyptian  design  from  Thebes  after  Ehrenberg. 

More  Early  Animal  Figures.  Nature,  Vol.  95,  1915,  p.  589. 

Two  Egyptian  figures,  one  after  Wilkinson,  another  from 
Hierakonpolis  after  Quibell. 

Chinese  and  Persian  Giraffe  Paintings.    Nature,  Vol.  99, 
1917,  p.  344. 

Chinese  painting  of  A.  W.  Bahr  representing  giraffe  and 
accompanied  by  erroneous  conclusions  (see  above,  p.  49). 

Giraffe  and  Sea  Horse  in  Ancient  Art.   American  Museum 
Journal,  Vol.  XVII,  1917,  p.  489. 

Same  matter  as  preceding  article. 

Ferrand,  G. — Le  nom  de  la  giraffe  dans  le  Ying  yai  cheng  Ian.  Jour- 
nal Asiatique,  July-August,  1918,  pp.  155-158. 

In  this  very  interesting  article  G.  Ferrand  makes  the  point 
that  the  Chinese  name  k'i-lin  for  the  giraffe  is  based  on  Somali 
giri  or  geri.  This  ingenious  supposition  is  not  entirely  convincing  for 
several  reasons.  First,  a  direct  contact  of  the  Chinese  with  the 
Somali  is  unproved.  Second,  the  old  Chinese  pronunciation  gi-lin 
holds  good  only  for  the  T'ang  period,  not  for  the  fifteenth  century 
when  the  Chinese  actually  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  giraffe  and 
when  the  word  was  articulated  k'i-lin  as  at  present.  Third,  the  name 
k'i-lin  was  applied  to  the  animal  in  China  when  it  arrived  there  as 
early  as  1414,  the  Chinese  naturally  believing  that  it  virtually  was 
the  k'i-lin  of  their  ancient  lore.  Ferrand  insists  that  Ma  Huan  heard 
the  Somali  word  giri  at  Aden,  but  Ma  Huan  himself  did  not  visit  Aden; 
his  account  of  Aden  is  based  on  the  report  of  the  eunuch  Li  who 
was  at  Aden  in  1422,  but  at  least  eight  years  earlier  the  giraffe 
was  designated  k'i-lin  on  Chinese  soil.  For  these  reasons  the  So- 
mali hypothesis  appears  to  me  unnecessary.  The  question  is 
merely  of  an  adaptation  of  an  old  name  to  a  novel  animal,  not  of 

98 


Bibliography  99 

an  attempt  at  transcribing  a  foreign  word.  The  Somali  name  was 
not  transmitted  anywhere;  it  was  the  Arabic  name  zurafa  which 
was  conveyed  both  to  China  and  to  Europe. 

Grabham,  G.  W. — An  Original  Representation  of  the  Giraffe.  Nature 
Vol.  96,  1915,  pp.  59-60. 

Reproduction  from  G.  A.  Hoskins,  Travels  in  Ethiopia  (1835), 
of  a  giraffe  from  an  Egyptian  monument,  with  reference  to  East- 
man's articles  in  Nature. 

Hagbnbeck,  C. — Von  Tieren  und  Menschen,  Erlebnisse  und  Erfah- 
rungen.   Berlin,  1908. 

Joly,  N.,  and  Lavocat,  A. — Recherches  historiques,  zoologiques,  ana- 
tomiques  et  pateontologiques  sur  la  girafe.  Memoires  de  la  Soci- 
6t6  des  sciences  naturelles  de  Strasbourg,  Vol.  Ill,  1846,  pp.  1-124 
in  quarto.   17  plates. 

This  is  the  most  extensive  monograph  on  the  giraffe  ever 
published  and  particularly  good  in  the  historical  section.  The  authors 
give  the  complete  texts  of  Greek,  Latin,  Byzantine  and  mediaeval 
writers  on  the  giraffe,  but  English  authors  are  neglected,  and 
Oriental  lore  was  unknown  at  that  time. 

Loisel,  G. — Historie  des  menageries  de  l'antiquite  a  nos  jours.  3  vols. 
Paris,  1912. 

Lydekkbr,  R. — On  Old  Pictures  of  Giraffes  and  Zebras.  Proceedings 
of  the  Zoological  Society  of  London,  1904,  Vol.  II,  pp.  339-345. 
Refers  to  the  English  paintings  of  giraffes  mentioned  on  p.  89. 

Maxwell,  W. — Stalking  Big  Game  with  a  Camera  in  Equatorial 
Africa.  New  York,  1924.  Chap.  VI:  Camera  Incidents  with  the 
Masai  Giraffe. 

Moule,  C.  A. — Some  Foreign  Birds  and  Beasts  in  Chinese  Books. 
Journal  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  1925,  pp.  247-261. 

The  value  of  this  article  rests  on  the  fact  that  for  the  first 
time  illustrations  of  animals  from  a  Chinese  book  of  the  fifteenth 
century  are  given,  but  the  data  are  not  critically  digested. 

Phipson,  Emma. — The  Animal-lore  of  Shakespeare's  Time,  pp.  130- 
133.  London,  1883. 

Renshaw,  G. — Natural  History  Essays.  London,  1904.  The  North- 
ern Giraffe,  pp.  99-113;  5  illustrations. 

Roosevelt,  T.  and  Heller,  E. — Life-histories  of  African  Game  Ani- 
mals. 2  vols.  New  York,  1914.  Chap.  XI:  The  Reticulated  and 
Common  Giraffes. 


100  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

Salze. — Observations  faites  sur  la  girafe  envoyee  au  roi  par  le  Pacha 
d'Egypte.  Memoires  du  Museum  d'histoire  naturelle,  Paris,  Vol. 
XIV,  1827,  pp.  68-84. 

This  is  the  first  description  of  the  giraffe  in  France  based  on  a 
live  specimen  and  enriched  by  information  given  by  the  Arab 
guides  of  the  animal. 

Winton,  W.  E.  de. — Remarks  on  the  Existing  Forms  of  Giraffe. 
Proceedings  Zoological  Society  of  London,  1897,  pp.  273-283. 

Yule,  H.— Hobson-Jobson.  London,  1903.  "Giraffe":  pp.  377-378. 

The  quotations  given  are  mere  extracts  and  not  complete; 
the  translations  from  Greek  authors  are  very  inexact. 


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